Musée du Louvre And Chanel

The Musée du Louvre (French pronunciation: [myze dy luvʁ])—in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre—is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, France, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement (district) (SONY PCG-5G2L battery). Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres (652,300 square feet). The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre) which began as a fortress built in the late 12th century under Philip II. Remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace(SONY PCG-5G3L battery). In 1682, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection, including, from 1692, a collection of antique sculpture.[5] In 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons(SONY PCG-F305 battery). The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years.[6] During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum, to display the nation's masterpieces. The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being royal and confiscated church property. Because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801(SONY PCG-5J1L battery). The size of the collection increased under Napoleon and the museum was renamed the Musée Napoléon. After the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, many works seized by his armies were returned to their original owners. The collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces(SONY PCG-5J2L battery). Holdings have grown steadily through donations and gifts since the Third Republic. As of 2008, the collection is divided among eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings; Prints and Drawings. History:12th-20th centuries Medieval, Renaissance, and Bourbon palace The only portion of the medieval Louvre still visible[7] Main article: Palais du Louvre The Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre) which houses the museum was begun as a fortress by Philip II in the 12th century, with remnants of this building still visible in the crypt(SONY PCG-5K2L battery).[7] Whether this was the first building on that spot is not known, but it is possible that Philip modified an existing tower.[8] Although some believe that the word 'louvre' may refer to the structure's status as the largest in late 12th century Paris (from the French L'Œuvre, masterpiece) – or to its location in a forest (from the French rouvre, oak) – one finds in the authoritative Larousse that it derives from an association with wolf hunting den (SONY PCG-5L1L battery) (via Latin: lupus, lower Empire: lupara).[8][9] The Louvre Palace was altered frequently throughout the Middle Ages. In the 14th century, Charles V converted the building into a residence and in 1546, Francis I (François 1er ) renovated the site in French Renaissance style.[10] Francis acquired what would become the nucleus of the Louvre's holdings, his acquisitions including Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa(SONY PCG-6S2L battery).[11] After Louis XIV chose Versailles as his residence in 1682, constructions slowed; however, the move permitted the Louvre to be used as a residence for artists. By the mid-18th century there was an increasing number of proposals to create a public gallery, with the art critic La Font de Saint-Yenne publishing, in 1747, a call for a display of the royal collection'.[14] On 14 October 1750(SONY PCG-6S3L battery), Louis XV agreed and sanctioned a display of 96 pieces from the royal collection, mounted in the Galerie royale de peinture of the Luxembourg Palace. A hall was opened by Le Normant de Tournehem and the Marquis de Marigny for public viewing of the Tableaux du Roy on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and contained Andrea del Sarto's Charity and works by Raphael(SONY PCG-6V1L battery); Titian; Veronese; Rembrandt; Poussin or Van Dyck, until its closing in 1780 as a result of the gift of the palace to the comte de Provence by the king in 1778.[15] Under Louis XVI, the royal museum idea became policy.[14] The comte d'Angiviller broadened the collection and in 1776 proposed conversion of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre – which contained maps(SONY PCG-6W1L battery) – into the "French Museum".[15] Many proposals were offered for the Louvre's renovation into a museum, however none was agreed on. Hence the museum remained incomplete until the French Revolution.[15] French Revolution During the French Revolution the Louvre was transformed into a public museum. In May 1791, the Assembly declared that the Louvre would be "a place for bringing together monuments of all the sciences and arts".[15] On 10 August 1792, Louis XVI was imprisoned and the royal collection in the Louvre became national property(SONY PCG-7111L battery). Because of fear of vandalism or theft, on 19 August, the National Assembly pronounced the museum's preparation as urgent. In October, a committee to "preserve the national memory" began assembling the collection for display.[16] Opening Antonio Canova's Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss was commissioned in 1787, donated in 1824. (SONY PCG-71511M battery) The museum opened on 10 August 1793, the first anniversary of the monarchy's demise. The public was given free access on three days per week, which was "perceived as a major accomplishment and was generally appreciated".[18] The collection showcased 537 paintings and 184 objects of art. Three quarters were derived from the royal collections, the remainder from confiscated émigrés and Church property (biens nationaux) (SONY PCG-6W3L battery). To expand and organize the collection, the Republic dedicated 100,000 livres per year. In 1794, France's revolutionary armies began bringing pieces from across Europe, such as Laocoön and His Sons and the Apollo Belvedere, to establish the Louvre as a museum and as a "sign of popular sovereignty"(SONY PCG-7113L battery). The early days were hectic; artists lived in residence, and the unlabelled paintings hung "frame to frame from floor to ceiling".[19] The building itself closed in May 1796 because of structural deficiencies. It reopened on 14 July 1801, arranged chronologically and with new lighting and columns(SONY PCG-7133L battery).[19] Napoleon I Under Napoleon I, a northern wing paralleling the Grande Galérie was begun, and the collection grew through successful military campaigns.[22] Following the Egyptian campaign of 1798–1801, Napoléon appointed the museum's first director, Dominique Vivant Denon. In tribute, the museum was renamed the "Musée Napoléon" in 1803, and acquisitions were made of Spanish(SONY PCG-7Z1L battery), Austrian, Dutch, and Italian works, either as spoils or through treaties such as the Treaty of Tolentino.[23] After the French defeat at Waterloo, the works' former owners sought their return. The Louvre's administrators were loath to comply and hid many works in their private collections. In response, foreign states sent emissaries to London to seek help, and many pieces were returned, even some that had been restored by the Louvre. (SONY PCG-7Z2L battery) In 1815 Louis XVIII finally concluded agreements with Italy for the keeping of pieces such as Veronese's Wedding at Cana which was exchanged for a large Le Brun or the repurchase of the Albani collection. Restoration and Second Empire The Venus de Milo was added to the Louvre's collection during the reign of Louis XVIII. During the Restoration (1814–30), Louis XVIII and Charles X between them added 135 pieces at a cost of 720,000 francs and created the department of Egyptian antiquities curated by Champollion(SONY PCG-8Y1L battery), increased by more than 7,000 works with the acquisition of the Durand, Salt or second Drovetti collections. This was less than the amount given for rehabilitation of Versailles, and the Louvre suffered relative to the rest of Paris. After the creation of the French Second Republic in 1848, the new government allocated two million francs for repair work and ordered the completion of the Galerie d'Apollon(SONY PCG-8Y2L battery), the Salon Carré, and the Grande Galérie.[25] In 1861, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte bought 11,835 artworks including 641 paintings of the Campana collection. During the Second French Empire, between 1852 and 1870, the French economy grew; by 1870 the museum had added 20,000 new pieces to its collections, and the Pavillon de Flore and the Grande Galérie were remodelled under architects Louis Visconti and Hector Lefuel. (SONY PCG-8Z2L battery) [edit]Third Republic and World Wars During the French Third Republic the Louvre acquired new pieces mainly via donations and gifts. The Société des Amis du Louvre donated the Pietà of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, and in 1863 an expedition uncovered the sculpture Winged Victory of Samothrace in the Aegean Sea. This piece, though heavily damaged, has been prominently displayed since 1884. (SONY PCG-8Z1L battery) The 583-item Collection La Caze donated in 1869, included works by Chardin; Fragonard; Rembrandt – such as Bathsheba at Her Bath – and Gilles by Watteau.[26] Museum expansion slowed after World War I, and the collection did not acquire many significant new works; exceptions were Georges de La Tour's Saint Thomas and Baron Edmond de Rothschild's (1845–1934) 1935 donation of 4,000 engravings, 3,000 drawings, and 500 illustrated books. (SONY PCG-7112L battery) During World War II the museum removed most of the art and hid valuable pieces. When Germany occupied the Sudetenland, many important artworks such as the Mona Lisa were temporarily moved to the Château de Chambord. When war was formally declared a year later, most of the museum's paintings were sent there as well(SONY PCG-6W2L battery). Select sculptures such as Winged Victory of Samothrace and the Venus de Milo were sent to the Château de Valençay.[27] On 27 August 1939, after two days of packing, truck convoys began to leave Paris. By 28 December, the museum was cleared of most works, except those that were too heavy and "unimportant paintings [that] were left in the basement".[28] In early 1945, after the liberation of France, art began returning to the Louvre. (SONY PCG-5K1L battery) Grand Louvre and the Pyramids Main article: Louvre Pyramid By 1874, the Louvre Palace had achieved its present form of an almost rectangular structure with the Sully Wing to the east containing the square Cour Carrée and the oldest parts of the Louvre; and two wings which wrap the Cour Napoléon, the Richelieu Wing to the north and the Denon Wing, which borders the Seine to the south.[30] In 1983, French President François Mitterrand proposed(SONY VGP-BPS8 battery), as one of the Grands Projets of François Mitterrand the Grand Louvre plan to renovate the building and relocate the Finance Ministry, allowing displays throughout the building. Architect I. M. Pei was awarded the project and proposed a glass pyramid to stand over a new entrance in the main court, the Cour Napoléon.[31] The pyramid and its underground lobby were inaugurated on 15 October 1988(SONY VGP-BPS8A battery). The second phase of the Grand Louvre plan, La Pyramide Inversée (The Inverted Pyramid), was completed in 1993. As of 2002, attendance had doubled since completion. 21st century The Musée du Louvre contains more than 380,000 objects and displays 1  works of art in eight curatorial departments with more than 60,600 square metres (652,000 sq ft) dedicated to the permanent collection.[33] The Louvre exhibits sculptures, objets d'art, paintings, drawings, and archaeological finds.[20] It is the world's most visited museum(SONY VGP-BPL8 battery), averaging 15,000 visitors per day, 65 percent of whom are foreign tourists.[32][34] In popular culture, the Louvre was a point of interest in the book The Da Vinci Code and the 2006 film based on the book. The museum earned $2.5 million by allowing filming in its galleries. Administration The Mona Lisa is the Louvre's most popular attraction. The Louvre is owned by the French government; however, since the nineties it has become more independent. Since 2003, the museum has been required to generate funds for projects.[38] By 2006, government funds had dipped from 75 percent of the total budget to 62 percent(SONY VGP-BPS9 battery). In 2008, the French government provided $180 million of the Louvre's yearly $350 million budget; the remainder came from private contributions and ticket sales.[37] The Louvre employs a staff of 2,000 led by Director Henri Loyrette, who reports to the French Ministry of Culture and Communications. Under Loyrette, who replaced Pierre Rosenberg in 2001, the Louvre has undergone policy changes that allow it to lend and borrow more works than before. (SONY VGP-BPS9/S battery) In 2006, it loaned 1,300 works, which enabled it to borrow more foreign works. From 2006 to 2009, the Louvre lent artwork to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, and received a $6.9 million payment to be used for renovations.[38] In addition, the opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi generated further income for the museum. Loyrette has tried to improve weak parts of the collection through income generated from loans of art and by guaranteeing that "20% (SONY VGP-BPS9A battery)of admissions receipts will be taken annually for acquisitions".[38] He has more administrative independence for the museum and achieved 90 percent of galleries to be open daily, as opposed to 80 percent previously. He oversaw the creation of extended hours and free admission on Friday nights and an increase in the acquisition budget to $36 million from $4.5 million. (SONY VGP-BPS9A/B battery) Satellite museums Lens Main article: Louvre-Lens In 2004, French officials decided to build a satellite museum on the site of an abandoned coal pit in the former mining town of Lens to relieve the crowded Paris Louvre, increase total museum visits, and improve the industrial north's economy.[40] Six cities were considered for the project: Amiens, Arras, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais, Lens, and Valenciennes. In 2004, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin chose Lens to be the site of the new building, called Le Louvre-Lens(SONY VGP-BPS9/B battery). Museum officials predicted that the new building, capable of receiving about 600 works of art, would attract up to 500,000 visitors a year when it opened in 2009.[40] [edit]Abu Dhabi Main article: Louvre Abu Dhabi In March 2007, the Louvre announced that a Louvre museum would be completed by 2012 in Abu Dhabi. A 30-year agreement, signed by French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres and Sheik Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, will establish the museum in downtown Abu Dhabi in exchange for €832,000,000 (US$1.3 billion) (SONY VGP-BPS9A/S battery). The Louvre Abu Dhabi, designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel and the engineering firm of Buro Happold, will occupy 24,000 square metres (260,000 sq ft) and will be covered by a roof shaped like a flying saucer. France agreed to rotate between 200 and 300 artworks during a 10-year period; to provide management expertise; and to provide four temporary exhibitions a year for 15 years. The art will come from multiple museums(SONY VGP-BPL9 battery), including the Louvre, the Georges Pompidou Centre, the Musée d'Orsay, Versailles, the Musée Guimet, the Musée Rodin, and the Musée du quai Branly.[41] [edit]Controversies The Louvre is involved in controversies that surround cultural property seized under Napoleon I and during World War II by the Nazis. After Nazi occupation, 61,233 articles on more than 150,000 seized artworks returned to France and were assigned to the Office des Biens Privés. In 1949 it entrusted 2130 remaining unclaimed pieces (including 1001 paintings) (SONY VGP-BPS10 battery) to the Direction des Musées de France in order to keep them under appropriate conditions of conservation until their restitution, and meanwhile classified them as MNRs (Musees Nationaux Recuperation or, in English : National Museums of Recovered Artwork). Some 10 % to 35 % of the pieces are believed to come from Jewish spoliations[42] and until the identification of their rightful owners, which declined at the end of the 1960s, they are registered indefinitely on separate inventories from the museums collections(SONY VGP-BPL10 battery). They were exhibited in 1946 and shown all together to the public during four years (1950–1954) in order to allow rightful claimants to identify their properties, then stored or exposed, according to their interest, in several French museums including the Louvre. From 1951 to 1965, about 37 pieces were restituted. Since November 1996(SONY VGP-BPS11 battery), the partly illustrated catalogue of 1947–1949 has been accessible online and completed. In 1997, Prime Minister Alain Juppé initiated the Mattéoli Commission, headed by Jean Mattéoli, to investigate the matter and according to the government, the Louvre is in charge of 678 pieces of still unclaimed artworks by their rightful owners.[43] During the late 1990s the comparison of the American war archives(SONY VGP-BPL11 battery), which had not been done before, with the French and German ones as well as two court cases which finally settled some of the heirs' rights (Gentili di Giuseppe and Rosenberg families) allowed more accurate investigations. Since 1996, the restitutions, according sometimes to less formal criteria, concerned 47 more pieces (26 paintings, with 6 from the Louvre including a then displayed Tiepolo), until the last claims of French owners and their heirs ended again in 2006(SONY VGP-BPL12 battery). According to Serge Klarsfeld, since the now complete and constant publicity which the artworks got in 1996, the majority of the French Jewish community is nevertheless in favour of the return to the normal French civil rule of prescription acquisitive of any unclaimed good after another long period of time and consequently to their ultimate integration into the common French heritage instead of their transfer to foreign institutions like during World War II(SONY VGP-BPS12 battery). Napoleon's campaigns acquired Italian pieces by treaties, as war reparations, and Northern European pieces as spoils as well as some antiquities excavated in Egypt, though the vast majority of the latter were seized as war reparations by the British army and are now part of collections of the British Museum. On the other hand, the Dendera zodiac is, like the Rosetta stone(SONY VGP-BPS13 battery), claimed by Egypt even though it was acquired in 1821, before the Egyptian Anti-export legislation of 1835. The Louvre administration has thus argued in favor of retaining this item despite requests by Egypt for its return. The museum participates too in arbitration sessions held via UNESCO's Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to Its Countries of Origin.[44] The museum consequently returned in 2009 five Egyptian fragments of frescoes (30 cm x 15 cm each) (SONY VGP-BPS13Q battery) whose existence of the tomb of origin had only been brought to the authorities attention in 2008, eight to five years after their good-faith acquisition by the museum from two private collections and after the necessary respect of the procedure of déclassement from French public collections before the Commission scientifique nationale des collections des musées de France. (SONY VGP-BPS13A/Q battery) Collections The Seated Scribe from Saqqara, Egypt, limestone and alabaster, circa 2600 and 2350 BC[46] The Musée du Louvre contains more than 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments.[47] [edit]Egyptian antiquities The department, comprising over 50,000 pieces,[48] includes artifacts from the Nile civilizations which date from 4,000 BC to the 4th century.[49] The collection, among the world's largest, overviews Egyptian life spanning Ancient Egypt(SONY VGP-BPS13B/Q battery), the Middle Kingdom, the New Kingdom, Coptic art, and the Roman, Ptolemaic, and Byzantine periods.[49] The department's origins lie in the royal collection, but it was augmented by Napoleon's 1798 expeditionary trip with Dominique Vivant, the future director of the Louvre.[48] After Jean-François Champollion translated the Rosetta Stone, Charles X decreed that an Egyptian Antiquities department be created(SONY VGP-BPS13/B battery). Champollion advised the purchase of three collections, the Durand, Salt and Drovetti; these additions added 7,000 works. Growth continued via acquisitions by Auguste Mariette, founder of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Mariette, after excavations at Memphis, sent back crates of archaeological finds including The Seated Scribe. (SONY VGP-BPS13B/B battery) Guarded by the Large Sphinx (c. 2000 BC), the collection is housed in more than 20 rooms. Holdings include art, papyrus scrolls, mummies, tools, clothing, jewelry, games, musical instruments, and weapons.[48][49] Pieces from the ancient period include the Gebel el-Arak Knife from 3400 BC, The Seated Scribe, and the Head of King Djedefre. Middle Kingdom art(SONY VGP-BPS13A/S battery), "known for its gold work and statues", moved from realism to idealization; this is exemplified by the schist statue of Amenemhatankh and the wooden Offering Bearer. The New Kingdom and Coptic Egyptian sections are deep, but the statue of the goddess Nephthys and the limestone depiction of the goddess Hathor demonstrate New Kingdom sentiment and wealth. (SONY VGP-BPS21A/B battery) Human-headed winged bull (shedu), Assyria, limestone, 8th century BC. [edit]Near Eastern antiquities Near Eastern antiquities, the second newest department, dates from 1881 and presents an overview of early Near Eastern civilization and "first settlements", before the arrival of Islam. The department is divided into three geographic areas: the Levant, Mesopotamia (Iraq), and Persia (Iran) . The collection's development corresponds to archaeological work such as Paul-Émile Botta's 1843 expedition to Khorsabad and the discovery of Sargon II's palace. (SONY VGP-BPS21B battery) These finds formed the basis of the Assyrian museum, the precursor to today's department.[49] The museum contains exhibits from Sumer and the city of Akkad, with monuments such as the Prince of Lagash's Stele of the Vultures from 2,450 BC and the stele erected by Naram-Sin, King of Akkad, to celebrate a victory over barbarians in the Zagros Mountains. The 2.25-metre (7.38 ft) Code of Hammurabi(SONY VGP-BPS21 battery), discovered in 1901, displays Babylonian Laws prominently, so that no man could plead their ignorance. The Persian portion of Louvre contains work from the archaic period, like the Funerary Head and the Persian Archers of Darius I. This section also contains rare objects from Persepolis which were also lent to British Museum for its Ancient Persia exihibition in 2005.[53] The Nike of Samothrace (winged Victory), marble, circa 190 BC Greek, Etruscan, and Roman(SONY VGP-BPS21/S battery) The Greek, Etruscan, and Roman department displays pieces from the Mediterranean Basin dating from the Neolithic to the 6th century.[54] The collection spans from the Cycladic period to the decline of the Roman Empire. This department is one of the museum's oldest; it began with appropriated royal art, some of which was acquired under Francis I. (SONY VGP-BPS13AS battery)Initially, the collection focused on marble sculptures, such as the Venus de Milo. Works such as the Apollo Belvedere arrived during the Napoleonic Wars, but these pieces were returned after Napoleon I's fall in 1815. In the 19th century, the Louvre acquired works including vases from the Durand collection, bronzes such as the Borghese Vase from the Bibliothèque nationale. (SONY VGP-BPS13S battery) The archaic is demonstrated by jewellery and pieces such as the limestone Lady of Auxerre, from 640 BC; and the cylindrical Hera of Samos, circa 570–560 BC. After the 4th century BC, focus on the human form increased, exemplified by the Borghese Gladiator. The Louvre holds masterpieces from the Hellenistic era, including The Winged Victory of Samothrace (190 BC) and the Venus de Milo, symbolic of classical art(SONY VGP-BPS13B/S battery).[55] The long Galerie Campana displays an outstanding collection of more than one thousand Greek potteries. In the galleries paralleling the Seine, much of the museum's Roman sculpture is displayed.[54] The Roman portraiture is representative of that genre; examples include the portraits of Agrippa and Annius Verus; among the bronzes is the Greek Apollo of Piombino(SONY VGP-BPS13B/G battery). Casket, ivory and silver, Muslim Spain, 966 [edit]Islamic art The Islamic art collection, the museum's newest, spans "thirteen centuries and three continents".[57] These exhibits, comprising ceramics, glass, metalware, wood, ivory, carpet, textiles, and miniatures, include more than 5,000 works and 1,000 shards.[58] Originally part of the decorative arts department, the holdings became separate in 2003(SONY VGP-BPS14 battery). Among the works are the Pyxide d'al-Mughira, a 10th century ivory box from Andalusia; the Baptistery of Saint-Louis, an engraved brass basin from the 13th or 14 century Mamluk period; and the 10th century Shroud of Josse from Iran.[51][57] The collection contains three pages of the Shahnameh, an epic book of poems by Ferdowsi in Persian, and a Syrian metalwork named the Barberini Vase. (SONY VGP-BPL14 battery) Tomb of Philippe Pot, governor of Burgundy under Louis XI, by Antoine Le Moiturier [edit]Sculpture The sculpture department comprises work created before 1850 that does not belong in the Etruscan, Greek, and Roman department.[59] The Louvre has been a repository of sculpted material since its time as a palace; however, only ancient architecture was displayed until 1824, except for Michelangelo's Dying Slave and Rebellious Slave. (SONY VGP-BPS14/B battery)Initially the collection included only 100 pieces, the rest of the royal sculpture collection being at Versailles. It remained small until 1847, when Léon Laborde was given control of the department. Laborde developed the medieval section and purchased the first such statues and sculptures in the collection, King Childebert and stanga door, respectively.[60] The collection was part of the Department of Antiquities but was given autonomy in 1871 under Louis Courajod(SONY VGP-BPS14/S battery), a director who organized a wider representation of French works.[59][60] In 1986, all post-1850 works were relocated to the new Musée d'Orsay. The Grand Louvre project separated the department into two exhibition spaces; the French collection is displayed in the Richelieu wing, and foreign works in the Denon wing.[59] The collection's overview of French sculpture contains Romanesque works such as the 11th century Daniel in the Lions' Den and the 12th century Virgin of Auvergne(SONY VGP-BPS14B battery). In the 16th century, Renaissance influence caused French sculpture to become more restrained, as seen in Jean Goujon's bas-reliefs, and Germain Pilon's Descent from the Cross and Resurrection of Christ. The 17th and 18th centuries are represented by Étienne Maurice Falconet's Woman Bathing and Amour menaçant and François Anguier's obelisks. Neoclassical works includes Antonio Canova's Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss (1787) (SONY VGP-BPS22 battery). French stained glass panel, 13 century, depicting Saint Blaise [edit]Decorative arts The Objets d'art collection spans from the Middle Ages to the mid-19th century. The department began as a subset of the sculpture department, based on royal property and the transfer of work from the Basilique Saint-Denis, the burial ground of French monarchs that held the Coronation Sword of the Kings of France. Among the budding collection's most prized works were pietre dure vases and bronzes(SONY VGP-BPS22 battery). The Durand collection's 1825 acquisition added "ceramics, enamels, and stained glass", and 800 pieces were given by Pierre Révoil. The onset of Romanticism rekindled interest in Renaissance and Medieval artwork, and the Sauvageot donation expanded the department with 1,500 middle-age and faïence works. In 1862, the Campana collection added gold jewelry and maiolicas, mainly from the 15th and 16th centuries. (SONY VGP-BPS18 battery) The works are displayed on the Richelieu Wing's first floor and in the Apollo Gallery, named by the painter Charles Le Brun, who was commissioned by Louis XIV (the Sun King) to decorate the space in a solar theme. The medieval collection contains the coronation crown of Louis XIV, Charles V's sceptre, and the 12th century porphyry vase. (SONY VGP-BPS22/A battery)The Renaissance art holdings include Giambologna's bronze Nessus and Deianira and the tapestry Maximillian's Hunt.[61] From later periods, highlights include Madame de Pompadour's Sèvres vase collection and Napoleon III's apartments.[61] The Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci, oil on panel, 1503–19, probably completed while the artist was at the court of Francis I(SONY VGP-BPS22A battery). In September 2000, the Louvre Museum dedicated the Gilbert Chagoury and Rose-Marie Chagoury Gallery to display tapestries donated by the Chagoury's, including a 16th century six-part tapestry, sewn with gold and silver threads representing sea divinities, which was commissioned in Paris for Colbert de Seignelay, then Secretary of State for the Navy(SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E/W battery). [edit]Painting Further information: List of works in the Louvre The painting collection has more than 7,500 works[65] from the 13th century to 1848 and is managed by 12 curators who oversee the collection's display. Nearly two-thirds are by French artists, and more than 1,200 are Northern European. The Italian paintings compose most of the remnants of Francis I and Louis XIV's collections, others are unreturned artwork from the Napoleon era, and some were bought(SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E/R battery). The collection began with Francis, who acquired works from Italian masters such as Raphael and Michelangelo,[68] and brought Leonardo da Vinci to his court.[11][69] After the French Revolution, the Royal Collection formed the nucleus of the Louvre. When the d'Orsay train station was converted into the Musée d'Orsay in 1986, the collection was split(SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E/P battery), and pieces completed after the 1848 Revolution were moved to the new museum. French and Northern European works are in the Richelieu wing and Cour Carrée; Spanish and Italian paintings are on the first floor of the Denon wing.[67] Exemplifying the French School are the early Avignon Pietà of Enguerrand Quarton; the anonymous painting of King Jean le Bon (c.1360), possibly the oldest independent portrait in Western painting to survive from the postclassical era(SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E/L battery);[70] Hyacinthe Rigaud's Louis XIV; Jacques-Louis David's The Coronation of Napoleon; and Eugène Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People. Northern European works include Johannes Vermeer's The Lacemaker and The Astronomer; Caspar David Friedrich's The Tree of Crows; Rembrandt's The Supper at Emmaus, Bathsheba at Her Bath, and The Slaughtered Ox. The Italian holdings are notable, particularly the Renaissance collection. The works include Andrea Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini's Calvarys(SONY Vaio VGN-CR120E battery), which reflect realism and detail "meant to depict the significant events of a greater spiritual world".[71] The High Renaissance collection includes Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Virgin and Child with St. Anne, St. John the Baptist, and Madonna of the Rocks. Caravaggio is represented by The Fortune Teller and Death of the Virgin. From 16th century Venice, the Louvre displays Titian's Le Concert Champetre, The Entombment and The Crowning with Thorns(SONY Vaio VGN-CR120 battery). Three lion-like heads, Charles le Brun, France, pen and wash on squared paper, 1671 The La Caze Collection, a bequest to the Musée du Louvre in 1869 by Louis La Caze was the largest contribution of a person in the history of the Louvre. La Caze gave 584 paintings of his personal collection to the museum. The bequest included Antoine Watteau's Commedia dell'arte player of Pierrot ("Gilles"). In 2007, this bequest was the topic of the exhibition "1869: Watteau, Chardin... entrent au Louvre. La collection La Caze".(SONY Vaio VGN-CR11H/B battery) Some of the best known paintings of the museum have been digitized by the French Center for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France. [edit]Prints and drawings The prints and drawings department encompasses works on paper.[75] The origins of the collection were the 8,600 works in the Royal Collection (Cabinet du Roi), which were increased via state appropriation, purchases such as the 1,200 works from Fillipo Baldinucci's collection in 1806, and donations.[46][76] The department opened on 5 August 1797(SONY Vaio VGN-CR116E battery), with 415 pieces displayed in the Galerie d'Apollon. The collection is organized into three sections: the core Cabinet du Roi, 14,000 royal copper printing-plates, and the donations of Edmond de Rothschild, which include 40,000 prints, 3,000 drawings, and 5,000 illustrated books. The holdings are displayed in the Pavillon de Flore; due to the fragility of the paper medium, only a portion are displayed at one time. (SONY Vaio VGN-CR116 battery) Location, access and facilities A map of the Louvre in the 1er arrondissement of Paris. Metro lines serving the area are shown, with stations colored red. Note that the RER is not shown. Landmarks are in black. The museum lies in the centre of Paris on the Right Bank. The neighborhood, known as the 1st arrondissement, is home to the destroyed Palais des Tuileries. The adjacent Tuileries Gardens, created in 1564 by Catherine de Medici, was designed in 1664 by André Le Nôtre(SONY Vaio VGN-CR115E battery). The gardens house the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, a contemporary art museum that was used to store Jewish cultural property from 1940 to 1944.[77] Parallel to the Jeu de Paume is the Orangerie, home to the famous Water Lilies paintings by Claude Monet. The Louvre is slightly askew of the axe historique (Historic Axis), a roughly eight-kilometre (five-mile) architectural line bisecting the city. It begins on the east in the Louvre courtyard and runs west along the Champs-Élysées(SONY Vaio VGN-CR115 battery). In 1871, the burning of the Tuileries Palace by the Paris Commune revealed that the Louvre was slightly askew of the Axe despite past appearances to the contrary.[78] The Louvre can be reached by the Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre Métro or the Louvre-Rivoli stations.[79] There are three entrances: the main entrance at the pyramid, an entrance from the Carrousel du Louvre underground shopping mall, and an entrance at the Porte des Lions (near the western end of the Denon wing) (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11S battery). Under the main entrance to the museum is the Carrousel du Louvre, a shopping mall operated by Unibail-Rodamco. Among other stores, it has the first Apple Store in France, and a McDonald's restaurant, the presence of which has created controversy.[80] The use of cameras and video recorders is permitted inside. Use of flashes is forbidden. Chanel S.A. (French: [ʃanɛl], English: /ʃəˈnɛl/) is the French house of high fashion that specializes in haute couture and ready-to-wear clothes, luxury goods, and fashion accessories. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15T battery)In her youth, the couturière Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel gained the soubriquet “Coco” in the course of her career as a chanteuse de café in provincial France. As a fashion designer, Coco Chanel catered to a woman’s taste for elegance in dress, with blouses and suits, trousers and dresses, and jewellry (gemstone and bijouterie) of simple design, that replaced the opulent, over-designed(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ15G battery), and constrictive clothes and accessories of the 19th-century fashion. Historically, the House of Chanel is most famous for the stylistically versatile “little black dress”, the perfume No. 5 de Chanel, and the Chanel Suit. As a business enterprise, Chanel S.A. is a privately held company owned by Alain Wertheimer and Gerard Wertheimer, grandsons of Pierre Wertheimer(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ460E battery), an early business partner of Coco Chanel. Commercially, the brands of the House of Chanel have been personified by fashion models and actresses, by women such as Inès de la Fressange, Catherine Deneuve, Carole Bouquet, Vanessa Paradis, Nicole Kidman, Anna Mouglalis, Audrey Tautou, Keira Knightley, and Marilyn Monroe, who epitomise the independent, self-confident Chanel Girl. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11L battery) La couturière Coco Chanel (1920) As a couturière, the milliner and dressmaker Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel presented and established new clothing and costume designs that promoted women from being male objects of conspicuous consumption and sexual display, to being persons who dressed for themselves, in comfortable clothes that allowed free movement; as such(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11Z battery), the practical application of jersey fabric to the construction of clothes was one technical innovation that made the garments popular and affordable.[4] Chanel revolutionized fashion — haute couture and prêt-à-porter — by replacing the structured-silhouette fashions, based upon the corset and the bodice, with garments of simple design that were cut and confected to be functional, and to aesthetically enhance the woman’s figure, in action and in repose(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ11M battery). In the 1920s, the simple-line designs of Chanel couture made popular the “flat-chested” fashions that were the opposite of the hourglass-figure achieved by the restrictively structured and ornate fashions of the late 19th century — the Belle Époque of France (ca. 1890–1914), and the British Edwardian Era (ca. 1901–1919). Besides comfortable wear(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18M battery), Chanel’s stylish and functional clothes were complemented by the suppleness of jersey fabric, which allowed the modern, 20th-century-woman to live and practice an active style of life; colour-wise, the fashion designer Coco Chanel used traditionally masculine colours, such as grey and navy blue, to connote boldness of character. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18 battery) The clothes of the House of Chanel also are known for quilted fabric and leather trimmings; the quilted construction of the garment reinforces the fabric, the design, and the finish, which produce a garment confected to maintain its form and function in every circumstance. The notable example of such haute couture techniques is the woolen Chanel Suit —(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ210CE battery)a knee-length skirt and a cardigan-style jacket, trimmed and decorated with black embroidery and gold-coloured buttons. The complementary accessories are two-tone pump shoes and jewellry (gemstone and bijouterie), usually a necklace of pearls, and a leather handbag. Moreover, the great financial, commercial, and cultural successes of perfume No. 5 increased public recognition of the House of Chanel(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31S battery), desire for its haute couture designs, demand for the prêt-à-porter clothes, and enhanced the artistic reputation of the couturière Coco Chanel; and, in lean times, perfume kept Chanel solvent. History The Coco Chanel era Establishment and recognition — 1909–1920s The actress Gabrielle Dorziat wearing a Chanel plumed hat. (1912) Fashion before Chanel: The artificial bust, waist, and hips of corsetry. (Bianca Lyons,1902) The Chanel Suit 2009: a tailored cardigan-style jacket, knee-length skirt, two-toned shoes, jewellry, and a leather handbag(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31Z battery). The House of Chanel (Chanel S.A.) originated in 1909, when Gabrielle Chanel opened a millinery shop at 160 Boulevard Malesherbes, the ground floor of the Parisian flat of the socialite and textile businessman Étienne Balsan, of whom she was mistress.[2] Hence, because the Balsan flat also was a salon for the French hunting and sporting élite, Chanel had opportunity to meet their demi-mondaine mistresses, who, as such, were women of fashion(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31E battery), upon whom the rich men displayed their wealth — as ornate clothes, jewelry, and hats; Coco Chanel thus could sell to them the hats she designed and made; she thus earned a living, independent of her financial sponsor, the socialite Balsan. In the course of those salons Coco Chanel befriended Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel, an English socialite and polo player friend of Étienne Balsan; per the upper class social custom(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31J battery), Chanel also became mistress to Boy Capel. Nonetheless, despite that social circumstance, Boy Capel perceived the businesswoman innate to Coco Chanel, and, in 1910, financed her first independent millinery shop, Chanel Modes, at 21 rue Cambon, Paris; yet, because that locale already housed a dress shop, the business-lease limited Chanel to selling only millinery products, not couture. Two years later, in 1913(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31M battery), the Deauville and Biarritz couture shops of Coco Chanel offered for sale prêt-à-porter sports clothes for women, the practical designs of which allowed the wearer to play sport.[2][5] The economic imperatives of national military victory in First World War (1914–18) affected European fashion through scarcity of materials, and the socio-economic mobilisation of women — from objects of sexual desire and economic display — to productive workers(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31B battery). Besides active military service, the enforced and increased production of coal made men scarce in the factories and in the fields, where they were replaced by women. Until that time — the end of 19th-century culture — fashion for women was about the masculine display of conspicuous consumption, so, clothes makers and designers then had to produce practical and protective garments that would allow women the physical freedom required to do a man’s job(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ32 battery) — in factory and field — in order to supply the French war effort against Imperial Germany (1871–1918). By that time, Chanel had opened a large dress shop at 31 rue Cambon, near the Hôtel Ritz, in Paris; among the clothes for sale were flannel blazers, straight-line skirts of linen, sailor blouses, long sweaters made of jersey fabric, and skirt-and-jacket suits. Technically, besides its relative low cost, as a couturière(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ410 battery), Coco Chanel used jersey cloth because of its physical properties as a garment, such as its drape — how it falls upon and falls from the body of the woman — and how well it adapted to the simple garment-design that allowed the wearer freedom of movement, physical comfort, and flattering aesthetics. Sartorially, some of Chanel’s designs derived from the military uniforms made prevalent by the War to End all Wars(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21 battery); and, by 1915, the designs and the clothes confected by the House of Chanel were known throughout France.[2] In 1915 and in 1917, Harper’s Bazaar magazine reported that the garments of the House of Chanel were “on the list of every buyer” for the clothing factories of Europe.[2] The Chanel dress shop at 31 rue Cambon presented day-wear dress-and-coat ensembles of simple design, and black evening dresses trimmed with lace; and tulle-fabric dresses decorated with jet(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21S battery), a minor gemstone material; the high-quality confection (design, construction, finish) of such clothes established the professional reputation of Coco Chanel as a meticulous couturière.[2] After the First World War, the House of Chanel, following the fashion trends of the 1920s, produced beaded dresses, made especially popular by the Flapper woman.[2] Moreover, by 1920, Chanel had designed and presented a woman’s suit of clothes (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21M battery)— composed either of two garments or of three garments — which allowed a woman to have a modern, feminine appearance, whilst being comfortable and practical to maintain; advocated as the “new uniform for afternoon and evening”, it became known as the Chanel Suit. In 1921, to complement the suit of clothes, Coco Chanel commissioned the perfumer Ernest Beaux to create a perfume for the House of Chanel, and he produced several échantillons, including the perfume No.5(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ38M battery), named after the number of the sample Chanel liked best. Originally, a flaçon of No. 5 de Chanel was a gift to regular clients of Chanel — yet, the popularity of the perfume prompted the House of Chanel to offer it for retail sale in 1922; in the event, No. 5 de Chanel became the signature fragrance of the couturière and of her house of couture. In 1923, to explain the success of her clothes, Coco Chanel told Harper’s Bazaar magazine that design “simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.” (Sony VAIO VGN-S battery) Business partners — late 1920s The success of the No. 5 encouraged Coco Chanel to expand perfume sales beyond France and Europe, and to develop other parfumerie — for which she required investment capital, business acumen, and commercial access to the North American market. To that end, the businessman Théophile Bader (founder of Galeries Lafayette) introduced the venture capitalist Pierre Wertheimer to the couturière Coco Chanel(Sony VAIO VGN-SZ battery). Their business deal established the Parfums Chanel company, a parfumerie of which Wertheimer owned 70 per cent, Bader owned 20 per cent, and Chanel owned 10 per cent; commercial success of the joint enterprise was assured by the Chanel name, and by the cachet of la “Maison Chanel”, which remained the sole business province of Coco Chanel.[7] Nonetheless, despite the great business success of the Chanel couture and parfumerie(Sony VGN-NR11S/S Battery), the personal relations between the couturière and her capitalist partner deteriorated, because, the artiste Coco Chanel said that Pierre Wertheimer was unfairly exploiting her talents as a fashion designer and as a businesswoman.[7] Wertheimer reminded Chanel that he had made her a very rich woman; and that his venture capital had funded Chanel’s productive expansion of the parfumerie which created the wealth they enjoyed, all from the success of No. 5 de Chanel(Sony VGN-NR11M/S Battery). Nevertheless unsatisfied, the businesswoman Gabrielle Chanel hired the attorney René de Chambrun to renegotiate the 10-per-cent partnership she entered, in 1924, with the Parfums Chanel company; the lawyer-to-lawyer negotiations failed, and the partnership-percentages remained as established in the original business deal among Wertheimer, Badel, and Chanel. (Sony VGN-NR260E/S Battery) Elegance and the War — 1930s–1940s The avant-garde couturière Elsa Schiaparelli was Coco Chanel’s only worthwhile rival in the design of clothes. From the gamine fashions of the 1920s, the dressmaker Coco Chanel had progressed to womanly fashions in the 1930s, which was a decade of innovations in the confection of haute couture clothes at Maison Chanel S.A. (Sony VGN-NR260E/T Battery); evening-dress designs were characterised by an elongated feminine style, and summer dresses featured scintillating contrasts, such as silver eyelets, and shoulder straps decorated with rhinestones. In 1932, Mademoiselle Chanel presented an exhibition of jewelry dedicated to the diamond as fashion accessory; it featured the stylistically memorable Comet and Fountain necklaces of diamonds, which were of such original design, that Chanel S.A. re-presented them in 1993(Sony VGN-NR260E/W Battery). Moreover, by 1937, the House of Chanel had expanded the range of its clothes to more women, and presented prêt-à-porter clothes designed, cut, and confected especially for the petite woman.[2] Among fashion designers, wherein rag-trade originality is in the dress-making technique — design, cut, and confection — only the haute couture created by the avant-garde Elsa Schiaparelli could compete with the clothes of Coco Chanel. (Sony VGN-NR11Z/S Battery) Chanel’s spymaster: General Walter Schellenberg Chief of the Sicherheitsdienst. During the Second World War (1939–45), Coco Chanel closed shop at Maison Chanel — leaving only jewellry and parfumerie for sale — and moved the Hôtel Ritz Paris, where she resided with her boyfriend, Hans Günther von Dincklage, a Nazi intelligence officer. Upon conquering France in June of 1940, the Nazis established a Parisian occupation-headquarters in the Hôtel Meurice, on the rue de la Rivoli, opposite the Louvre Museum(Sony VGN-NR11Z/T Battery), and just around the corner from the fashionable Maison Chanel S.A., at 31 rue Cambon.[2] Meanwhile, because of the Nazi occupation’s official anti-Semitism, Pierre Wertheimer and family, had fled France to the U.S., in mid-1940. Later, in 1941, Coco Chanel attempted to legalistically assume full and formal business control of Parfums Chanel, but was thwarted by an administrative delegation that disallowed her sole disposition of the parfumerie(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21E battery). Having foreseen the Nazi occupation policy of the seizure-and-expropriation to Germany of Jewish business and assets in France, Pierre Wertheimer, the majority partner, had earlier, in May 1940, designated Felix Amiot, a Christian French industrialist, as the “Aryan” proxy whose legal control of the Parfums Chanel business proved politically acceptable to the Nazis, who then allowed the perfume company to continue as an operating business. (Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21Z battery) Occupied France abounded with rumours that Coco Chanel was a Nazi collaborator; her clandestine identity was secret agent 7124 of the Abwehr, code-named “Westminster”.[10] As such, by order of General Walter Schellenberg, of the Sicherheitsdienst, Chanel was despatched to London on a mission to communicate to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill the particulars of a “separate peace” plan proposed by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler(Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21J battery), who sought to avoid surrendering to the Red Army of the Soviet Russians. At War’s end, upon the Allied liberation of France, Chanel was arrested for having collaborated with the Nazis. In September 1944, the Free French Purge Committee, the épuration, summoned Chanel for interrogation about her collaborationism, yet, without documentary evidence of or witnesses to her collaboration with the Nazis(Sony VAIO VGN-FW11 battery), and because of Churchill’s secret intervention in her behalf, the épuration released Coco Chanel from arrest as a traitor to France.[11][7] Nation-wide, the liberated French people avenged themselves upon the men and the women who had collaborated with the Third Reich’s brutal, five-year occupation of France; a shaved head was the mildest punishment for les collaborateurs horizontales(Sony VAIO VGN-FW11M battery), women who had expediently perdured the Occupation and survived the War with sexual prostitution. Despite having been freed by the British political grace of the deus ex machina Churchill, the strength of the rumours of Chanel’s Nazi collaboration had made it infeasible for her to safely remain in France; promptly, Coco Chanel and her German lover, Hans Günther von Dincklage, went into an eight-year exile to Switzerland. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW11S battery) In the post–War period, during Coco Chanel’s Swiss exile from France, Pierre Wertheimer returned to Paris, and regained formal administrative control of his family’s business holdings — including control of Parfums Chanel, the parfumerie established with his venture capital, and successful because of the Chanel name.[7] In Switzerland, the news revived Coco Chanel’s resentment at having been an artiste commercially exploited by her business partner(Sony VAIO VGN-FW21E battery), for only ten per cent of the money; spiteful, she then established a rival Swiss parfumerie to create, produce, and sell her “Chanel perfumes”. In turn, Wertheimer, the majority capital stock owner of Parfums Chanel, saw his business interests threatened, and his commercial rights infringed, because he did not possess legally exclusive rights to the Chanel name. Nonetheless, Wertheimer avoided a trademark infringement lawsuit against Coco Chanel(Sony VAIO VGN-FW21J battery), lest it damage the commercial reputation and the artistic credibility of his Chanel-brand parfumerie. Sagaciously, Pierre Wertheimer settled his business- and commercial-rights quarrel with Mademoiselle Chanel, and, in May 1947, they renegotiated the 1924 contract that had established Parfums Chanel — she was paid $400,000 in cash (wartime profits from the sales of perfume No. 5 de Chanel) (Sony VAIO VGN-FW21L battery); assigned a 2.0 per cent running royalty from the sales of No. 5 parfumerie; assigned limited commercial rights to sell her “Chanel perfumes” in Switzerland; and granted a perpetual monthly stipend that paid all of her expenses. In exchange, the astute businesswoman, Gabrielle Chanel closed her Swiss parfumerie enterprise, and sold to Parfums Chanel the full rights to the name “Coco Chanel”. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW41M battery) Resurgence — 1950s–1970s This section appears to be written like an advertisement. Please help improve it by rewriting promotional content from a neutral point of view and removing any inappropriate external links. (June 2010) Chanel haute couture: Cashmere suit comprising a sleeveless dress and a long, cardigan-style coat. (ca. 1960) (Sony VAIO VGN-FW41M/H battery) In 1953, from Switzerland, Coco Chanel returned to Paris, and found the fashion world enamoured of the “New Look”, by Christian Dior, which, although very feminine, was, in her opinion, a return to the corseted fashions she had opposed at the beginning of her career as a couturière.[2] It was a stylistic and technical challenge to which she responded, by recognizing and acknowledging, that although the market for haute couture was much changed(Sony VAIO VGN-FW21M battery), she could catch-up and prevail.[2] Becoming competitive again would necessarily come at a great price; Chanel needed to be a significant presence in: haute couture, pret-a-porter, costume jewelry and fragrance. Coco swallowed her pride and re-approached Pierre for business advice and financial backing.[7] In return, he negotiated for himself complete rights to all products bearing the brand: "Chanel." (Sony VAIO VGN-FW21Z battery)But their re-kindled collaboration paid off handsomely as Chanel, with her unerring sense of style, once again became the single, most prestigious label in all of fashion.[7] Importantly for the brand and starting in 1953, Coco collaborated with jeweler Robert Goossens to design a line of Chanel jewelry which exquisitely complimented her iconic fashion designs. For example(Sony VAIO VGN-FW32J battery), she paired her re-launched signature "Chanel Suit" (consisting of a knitted wool cardigan with a matching skirt) with long strings of black and white pearls, setting off the suit wonderfully while at the same time adding to it a degree of femininity, thus lightening a sometimes severe look."[5] She also introduced the Chanel gold or metallic chain-strapped and quilted leather handbags in February 1955. The launch date for this line, 2/55, thus became the internal "appellation" for the quilted bag line(Sony VAIO VGN-FW17W battery). It is still known throughout the world as the "2/55" bag and it, just like the "Chanel Suit" has never really ever fallen out of fashion.[2] Throughout the fifties, her taste continued its unerring path to success, even as she turned to new areas of conquest. Her first venture into men's fragrance became yet another enduring success, Chanel's eau de toilette for men, Pour Monsieur (which has also been marketed under the name(Sony VAIO VGN-FW31E battery): "A Gentleman's Cologne") became, endured and remains even today the number one selling men's fragrance. Chanel and her spring collection received the Fashion Oscar at the 1957 Fashion Awards in Dallas. Pierre Wertheimer bought Bader's 20% share of the perfume business, giving his family 90 per cent.[7] Pierre's son Jacques Wertheimer took his father's place in 1965. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW139E battery) Coco's attorney Chambrun called the now-gone-relationship as "one based on a businessman's passion, despite her misplaced feelings of exploitation."[7] He told Forbes, "Pierre returned to Paris full of pride and excitement [after one of his horses won the 1956 English Derby]. He rushed to Coco, expecting congratulations and praise. But she refused to kiss him. She resented him, you see, all her life." (Sony VAIO VGN-FW139E/H battery) Coco Chanel died on 10 January 1971, aged 87.[2] She was still "designing, still working" at the time of her death.[2] For example, in the (1966–1969) period, she designed the air hostess uniforms for Olympic Airways, the designer who followed her was Pierre Cardin. In that time, Olympic Airways was a luxury airline, owned by the transport magnate Aristotle Onassis(Sony VAIO VGN-FW31M battery). After her death, leadership of the company was handed down to Yvonne Dudel, Jean Cazaubon, and Philippe Guibourge.[2] After a period of time, Jacques Wertheimer bought the controlling interest of the House of Chanel.[2][7] Critics stated that during his leadership, he never paid much attention to the company, as he was more interested in horse breeding. (Sony VAIO VGN-FW31J battery) In 1974, the House of Chanel launched Cristalle eau de toilette, which was designed when Coco Chanel was alive. 1978 saw the launch of the first non-couture, prêt-à-porter line and worldwide distribution of accessories. Alain Wertheimer, son of Jacques Wertheimer, assumed control of Chanel S.A. in 1974.[2][7] In the U.S., No. 5 de Chanel was perceives as a passé fashion.seen as a passe perfume.[7] Alain revamped Chanel No.5 sales by reducing the number of outlets carrying the fragrance from 18,000 to 12,000(Sony VAIO VGN-FW31Z battery). He removed the perfume from drugstore shelves, and invested millions of dollars in advertisement for Chanel cosmetics. This ensured a greater sense of scarcity and exclusivity for No.5, and sales rocketed back up as demand for the fragrance increased.[7] He also used many famous people to endorse the perfume — from Marilyn Monroe to Audrey Tautou. Looking for a designer who could bring the label to new heights, he persuaded Karl Lagerfeld to end his contract with fashion house Chloé(Sony VGN-NR11Z Battery). The post–Coco era The couturier Karl Lagerfeld, chief designer at Chanel S.A., and the Bolivian couturière Monica Moss. (Monaco 2005) Chanel couture by Lagerfeld: the Autumn–Winter 2011–2012 collection The 1980s — Karl Lagerfeld In 1981, Chanel launched a new eau de toilette for men, Antaeus. In 1983, Karl Lagerfeld took over as chief designer for Chanel.[7] He changed Chanel's fashion lines from the old lines to shorter cuts and eye capturing designs. During the 1980s, more than 40 Chanel boutiques were opened up worldwide. (Sony VGN-NR11S Battery) By the end of the 1980s, these boutiques sold goods ranging from US$200-per-ounce perfume, US$225 ballerina slippers to US$11,000 dresses and US$2,000 leather handbags.[7] Rights to Chanel cosmetics and fragrances were held by Chanel only and not shared with other beauty producers and distributors.[7] As Lagerfeld took charge as chief designer, other designers and marketers for Chanel worked on keeping the classic Chanel look to maintain the Chanel legend. (Sony VGN-NR110E Battery) Chanel marketer Jean Hoehn explained, "We introduce a new fragrance every 10 years, not every three minutes like many competitors. We don't confuse the consumer. With Chanel, people know what to expect. And they keep coming back to us, at all ages, as they enter and leave the market."[7] The launch of a new fragrance in honor of Coco Chanel, Coco(Sony VGN-NR110E/T Battery), in 1984 maintained success in the perfumery business with Chanel.[7] In 1986, the House of Chanel struck a deal with watchmakers and in 1987, the first Chanel watch made its debut. By the end of the decade, Alain moved the offices to New York City.[7] The 1990s The company became a global leader in fragrance making and marketing in the 1990s.[7] Heavy marketing investment increased revenue.[7] The success of the Maison de Chanel brought the Wertheimer family fortune to $5 billion USD. (Sony VGN-NR110E/S Battery) Product lines such as watches (retailing for as much as $7,000 USD), shoes, high-end clothes, cosmetics, and accessories were expanded.[7] Sales were hurt by the recession of the early 1990s, but Chanel recovered by the mid-1990s with further boutique expansion.[7] 1990 saw the launch of ĹŹ.[7] In 1996, Chanel bought gunmaker Holland & Holland. It attempted to revamp Holland & Holland, but did not succeed(Sony VGN-NR110E/W Battery).[7] 1996 also greeted the launch of Allure fragrance and due to its immense popularity, a men's version, Allure Homme was launched in 1998. Better success came with the purchase of Eres (a swimwear label). The House of Chanel launched its first skin care line, PRÉCISION in 1999. That same year, Chanel launched a new travel collection, and under a license contract with Luxottica, introduced a line of sunglasses and eyeglass frames(Sony VGN-CR11SR Battery). The 21st century While Alain Wertheimer remained chairman of Chanel, CEO and President Françoise Montenay was to bring Chanel into the 21st century.[7] 2000 saw the launch of the first unisex watch by Chanel, the J12. In 2001, Bell & Ross was purchased (a watchmaker). The same year, Chanel boutiques offering only selections of accessories were opened in the United States(Sony VGN-CR11Z Battery).[7] Chanel also launched a small selection of menswear as a part of their runway shows which may be purchased at a few flagship boutiques including Rue Cambon vjk (Paris), Soho (New York), Roberston Blvd (Los Angeles) and the Prince's building (Hong Kong). In 2002, Chanel launched the Chance perfume, a fragrance meant to convey glamour. The House of Chanel also founded the Paraffection company that gathered the five Ateliers d’Art: Desrues for ornamentation(Sony VGN-CR11S Battery), Lemarié for feathers and camellias, Lesage for embroidery, Massaro for shoemaking, and Michel for millinery. A prêt-à-porter collection leveraging their know-how was designed by Karl Lagerfeld. It is now traditionally presented each December. In July 2002, a jewelry and watch flagship store was opened on the upscale Madison Avenue.[7] Within months, a 1,000sqft shoes and handbag boutique was opened next door to the jewelry and watches flagship(Sony VGN-CR11M Battery).[7] Also in 2002, a rumor suggesting that Chanel was considering a merger with the luxury goods Parisian fashion company Hermès circulated.[7] Although such a merger would have produced one of the largest fashion companies in the world, and rival the likes of Moët-Hennessy Louis Vuitton, it was never consummated. Chanel continued to expand in the United States and by December 2002(Sony VGN-CR11E Battery), it operated 25 U.S. boutiques.[7] Chanel stated it would like to open more boutiques in more U.S. cities such as Atlanta and Seattle. In order to please the younger followers, Chanel introduced Coco Mademoiselle and an "In-Between Wear" in 2003. That same year saw such an immense popularity of Chanel haute couture that the company founded a second shop on Rue Cambon. Desiring a presence in the Asian market, the House of Chanel opened a new 2,400 square feet(Sony VGN-CR21E Battery) (220 m2) boutique in Hong Kong and paid nearly $50 million USD for a building in Ginza, Tokyo.[2] Corporate identity The logotype The Chanel logotype comprises two interlocked, opposed letters-C, one faced forwards, one faced backwards. The logotype was given to Chanel by the Château de Crémat, Nice, and was not registered as a trademark until the first Chanel shops were established.[13] Chanel is currently dealing with illegal use of the double-C logotype on cheaper goods(Sony VGN-CR21S Battery), especially counterfeit handbags. The company has stated that it is a top priority of theirs to stop the sale of counterfeit products.[14] Countries said to be producing great numbers of counterfeit Chanel handbags are Vietnam and China. An authentic classic Chanel handbag retails from around US $4,150, while a counterfeit usually costs around $200 USD, creating a demand for the signature style at a cheaper price. Beginning in the 1990s(Sony VGN-CR21Z Battery), all authentic Chanel handbags are serialized. The trademarks One timeline measurement for Chanel presence in the United States is via trademark registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). On Tuesday, 18 November 1924, Chanel, Inc. filed two trademark applications. One was for the typeset mark Chanel. The second application was for the distinctive interlocking CC design plus word mark(Sony VGN-CR21SR Battery). In that time, the Chanel trademarks were registered only for the perfume, toiletry, and cosmetic products in the primary class of common metals and their alloys. Chanel provided the description of face powder, perfume, eau de cologne, toilet water, lip stick, and rouge, to the USPTO.[15] The Chanel and double-C trademarks were awarded on the same date of 24 February 1925 with respective Serial Numbers of 71205468 and 71205469(Sony VGN-CR31SR Battery). Their status is registered and renewed and owned by Chanel, Inc. of New York. The earliest trademark application for the inaugural No. 5 perfume is on Thursday, 1 April 1926. Application was filed by Chanel, Inc. and described to the USPTO as perfume and toilet water. First use and commercial use is stated as 1 January 1921. Registration was granted on 20 July 1926 with Serial Number 71229497. No. 5's status is registered, renewed, and owned by Chanel, Inc(Sony VGN-CR31S Battery). Handbags At the commercial presentation of the Chanel handbag of classic design (and greatest popularity), the press mistakenly identified it as the 2.55 handbag, instead of having identified it as the Timeless CC handbag. The differences in product design, materuals, and manufacture, between the 2.55 and the Timeless CC handbags, are different locks and leathers(Sony VGN-CR31E Battery); the 2.55 handbag is made of creased leather, whilst the Timeless CC handbag is made of smooth leather. Moreover, the carrying chain of the 2.55 handbag is made of links of matte-finish metal, whilst the chain of the Timeless CC handbag is made of gloss-finish metal links through which a leather strap is interlaced. The Timeless CC handbag is available in four sizes, the most popular is the second size of the range(Sony VGN-CR31Z Battery). The Chanel Handbag: The model 2.55, in quilted-leather, has adjustable double-chains, to wear it on the arm or at the shoulder. The Chanel Handbag: Sporting a quilted-leather handbag, the Belgian Queen Fabiola, and her husband, King Baudouin, visited the Nixon White House, in 1969. Wristwatches The unisex design of the Chanel J12 wristwatches suits men and women. The Chanel wristwatch division was established in 1987, to coincide with the début presentation of the Première wristwatch. (Sony VGN-CR41Z Battery) In 1995, wristwatch division presented a second design, the Matelassé.[24] Although the Première and Matelassé wristwatches were successful products, the presentation, in 2000, of the Chanel J12 line of unisex style wristwatches, made of ceramic materials, established Chanel wristwatches as a recognised Chanel marque.[24] To date the J12 line of wristwatches features models in four dial-face sizes(Sony VGN-CR41S Battery): (i) 33mm., (ii) 38mm., (iii) 41mm., and (iv) 42mm.; the available features include the “whirlwind” tourbillon mechanism that counters Earthly gravity; chronographs certified by the Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres, and the usual bejewelled versions.[24][25] In 2008, Chanel S.A. and Audemars Piguet developed the ceramic Chanel AP-3125 clockwork, exclusive to the House of Chanel. (Sony VGN-CR41E Battery) The shops Worldwide, Chanel S.A. operates some 310 Chanel boutiques; 94 shops in Asia, 70 shops in Europe, 10 shops in the Middle East, 128 shops in North America, 2 shops in South America, and 6 shops in Oceania.[7] The shops are located in wealthy communities, usually in department stores, shopping districts, and inside airports.[7] In Japan, the Chanel flagship store is in the Ginza district, on the corner of 3-5-3 Ginza Chuo-ku, Tokyo – 104-0061(Sony VGN-CR42Z Battery); the other three corners of the square are occupied by Louis Vuitton, Bulgari, and Cartier shops.[27]

Augustus

Augustus ( /ɔːˈɡʌstəs/;[1] Classical Latin: [awˈɡʊstʊs]; Latin: Imperator Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus;[note 1] 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.[note 2] Born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, HP Pavilion dv6-3032TX Batteryhe was adopted posthumously by his great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar in 44 BC via his last will and testament, and between then and 27 BC was officially named Gaius Julius Caesar. In 27 BC the Senate awarded him the honorific Augustus ("the revered one"), and thus consequently he was Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus.[note 3] HP Pavilion dv6-3033sa Battery The young Octavius came into his inheritance after Caesar's assassination in 44 BC. In 43 BC, Octavian joined forces with Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in a military dictatorship known as the Second Triumvirate. As a triumvir, Octavian ruled Rome and many of its provincesHP Pavilion dv6-3035sa Battery.[note 4] The triumvirate was eventually torn apart under the competing ambitions of its rulers: Lepidus was driven into exile, and Antony committed suicide following his defeat at the Battle of Actium by Octavian's fleet under the command of Agrippa in 31 BC. After the demise of the Second Triumvirate, HP Pavilion dv6-3040sa Battery Octavian restored the outward facade of the Roman Republic, with governmental power vested in the Roman Senate, but in practice retained his autocratic power. It took several years to determine the exact framework by which a formally republican state could be led by a sole ruler; the result became known as the Roman Empire. HP Pavilion dv6-3042TX BatteryThe emperorship was never an office like the Roman dictatorship which Caesar and Sulla had held before him; indeed, he declined it when the Roman populace "entreated him to take on the dictatorship".[2] He was not known as what we would call "Emperor" in his lifetime; "Imperator" was (to begin with) simply a title given to an unusually successful general. HP Pavilion dv6-3044sa Battery But Augustus was given, among other titles, that of "princeps", "the first (of citizens)". Originally it had no royal connotations. By law, Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by the Senate, including those of tribune of the plebs and censor. He was consul until 23 BC.[3] His substantive power stemmed from financial success and resources gained in conquest, HP Pavilion dv6-3045sa Batterythe building of patronage relationships throughout the Empire, the loyalty of many military soldiers and veterans, the authority of the many honors granted by the Senate,[4] and the respect of the people. Augustus' control over the majority of Rome's legions established an armed threat that could be used against the Senate, HP Pavilion dv6-3046sa Batteryallowing him to coerce the Senate's decisions. With his ability to eliminate senatorial opposition by means of arms, the Senate became docile towards him. His rule through patronage, military power, and accumulation of the offices of the defunct Republic became the model for all later imperial governments. The reign of Augustus initiated an era of relative peace known as the Pax Romana, HP Pavilion dv6-3047sa Batteryor Roman peace. Despite continuous wars on the frontiers, and one year-long civil war over the imperial succession, the Mediterranean world remained at peace for more than two centuries. Augustus enlarged the empire dramatically, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, and Raetia, expanded possessions in Africa, and completed the conquest of Hispania. Beyond the frontiers, HP Pavilion dv6-3048sa Battery he secured the empire with client states, and made peace with Parthia through diplomacy. He reformed the Roman system of taxation, developed networks of roads with an official courier system, established a standing army, HP Pavilion dv6-3048tx Batteryestablished the Praetorian Guard, and created official police and fire-fighting services for Rome. Much of the city was rebuilt under Augustus; and he wrote a record of his own accomplishments, known as the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, which has survived. Upon his death in AD 14, HP Pavilion dv6-3050eo BatteryAugustus was declared a god by the Senate—to be worshipped by the Romans.[5] His names Augustus and Caesar were adopted by every subsequent emperor; and the eighth month of the Roman calendar, previously named Sextilis, was renamed Augustus (August in English) in his honour. He was succeeded by his adopted son (also stepson and former son-in-law), HP Pavilion dv6-3050sa Battery Tiberius. Early life While his paternal family was from the town of Velletri, about 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Rome, Augustus was born in the city of Rome on 23 September 63 BC. He was born at Ox Head, a small property on the Palatine Hill, HP Pavilion dv6-3055sa Batteryvery close to the Roman Forum. He was given the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus, his cognomen possibly commemorating his father's victory at Thurii over a rebellious band of slaves.[6][7] Due to the crowded nature of Rome at the time, Octavius was taken to his father's home village at Velletri to be raised. HP Pavilion dv6-3056sa Battery Octavius only mentions his father's equestrian family briefly in his memoirs. His paternal great-grandfather was a military tribune in Sicily during the Second Punic War. His grandfather had served in several local political offices. His father, also named Gaius Octavius, had been governor of Macedonia.[note 5][8] His mother Atia was the niece of Julius Caesar. HP Pavilion dv6-3057sa Battery In 59 BC, when he was four years old, his father died.[9] His mother married a former governor of Syria, Lucius Marcius Philippus.[10] Philippus claimed descent from Alexander the Great, and was elected consul in 56 BC. Philippus never had much of an interest in young Octavius. HP Pavilion dv6-3060sa BatteryBecause of this, Octavius was raised by his grandmother (and Julius Caesar's sister), Julia Caesaris. In 52 or 51 BC, Julia Caesaris died. Octavius delivered the funeral oration for his grandmother.[11] From this point, his mother and stepfather took a more active role in raising him. He donned the toga virilis four years later, HP Pavilion dv6-3065ea Battery [12] and was elected to the College of Pontiffs in 47 BC.[13][14] The following year he was put in charge of the Greek games that were staged in honor of the Temple of Venus Genetrix, built by Julius Caesar.[14] According to Nicolaus of Damascus, Octavius wished to join Caesar's staff for his campaign in Africa but gave way when his mother protested. HP Pavilion dv6-3067ea Battery [15] In 46 BC, she consented for him to join Caesar in Hispania, where he planned to fight the forces of Pompey, Caesar's late enemy, but Octavius fell ill and was unable to travel. When he had recovered, he sailed to the front, but was shipwrecked; after coming ashore with a handful of companions, he crossed hostile territory to Caesar's camp, HP Pavilion dv6-3068ea Battery which impressed his great-uncle considerably.[12] Velleius Paterculus reports that Caesar afterwards allowed the young man to share his carriage.[16] When back in Rome, Caesar deposited a new will with the Vestal Virgins, naming Octavius as the prime beneficiary.[17] Rise to powerHP Pavilion dv6-3070ea Battery Heir to Caesar At the time Caesar was killed on the Ides of March (the 15th) 44 BC, Octavius was studying and undergoing military training in Apollonia, Illyria. Rejecting the advice of some army officers to take refuge with the troops in Macedonia, HP Pavilion dv6-3077la Battery he sailed to Italia to ascertain if he had any potential political fortunes or security.[18] After landing at Lupiae near Brundisium, he learned the contents of Caesar's will, and only then did he decide to become Caesar's political heir as well as heir to two-thirds of his estate.[14][18][19] Having no living legitimate children, HP Pavilion dv6-3085ea Battery [20] Caesar had adopted his great-nephew Octavius as his son and main heir.[21] Upon his adoption, Octavius assumed his great-uncle's name, Gaius Julius Caesar. Although Romans who had been adopted into a new family usually retained their old nomen in cognomen form (e.g. Octavianus for one who had been an Octavius, Aemilianus for one who had been an Aemilius, HP Pavilion dv6-3088la Batteryetc.) there is no evidence that he ever bore the name Octavianus, as it would have made his modest origins too obvious.[22][23][24] However, despite the fact that he never officially bore the name Octavianus, to save confusing the dead dictator with his heir, historians often refer to the new Caesar—between his adoption and his assumption, in 27 BC, HP Pavilion dv6-3089la Batteryof the name Augustus—as Octavian.[25] Mark Antony later charged that Octavian had earned his adoption by Caesar through sexual favours, though Suetonius, in his work Lives of the Twelve Caesars, describes Antony's accusation as political slander.[26] To make a successful entry into the upper echelons of the Roman political hierarchy, Octavian could not rely on his limited funds. HP Pavilion dv6-3100 Battery [27] After a warm welcome by Caesar's soldiers at Brundisium,[28] Octavian demanded a portion of the funds that were allotted by Caesar for the intended war against Parthia in the Middle East.[27] This amounted to 700 million sesterces stored at Brundisium, the staging ground in Italy for military operations in the east.[29] HP Pavilion dv6-3100sa Battery A later senatorial investigation into the disappearance of the public funds made no action against Octavian, since he subsequently used that money to raise troops against the Senate's arch enemy, Mark Antony.[28] Octavian made another bold move in 44 BC when without official permission he appropriated the annual tribute that had been sent from Rome's Near Eastern province to Italy. HP Pavilion dv6-3110ea Battery [23][30] Octavian began to bolster his personal forces with Caesar's veteran legionaries and with troops designated for the Parthian war, gathering support by emphasizing his status as heir to Caesar.[18][31] On his march to Rome through Italy, Octavian's presence and newly acquired funds attracted many, winning over Caesar's former veterans stationed in CampaniaHP Pavilion dv6-3110sa Battery.[23] By June he had gathered an army of 3,000 loyal veterans, paying each a salary of 500 denarii.[32][33][34] Arriving in Rome on 6 May 44 BC,[23] Octavian found the consul Mark Antony, Caesar's former colleague, in an uneasy truce with the dictator's assassins; they had been granted a general amnesty on 17 March, HP Pavilion dv6-3111sa Battery yet Antony succeeded in driving most of them out of Rome.[23] This was due to his "inflammatory" eulogy given at Caesar's funeral, mounting public opinion against the assassins.[23] Although Mark Antony was amassing political support, Octavian still had opportunity to rival him as the leading member of the faction supporting Caesar. HP Pavilion dv6-3112sa BatteryMark Antony had lost the support of many Romans and supporters of Caesar when he at first opposed the motion to elevate Caesar to divine status.[35] Octavian failed to persuade Antony to relinquish Caesar's money to him. However, during the summer he managed to win support from Caesarian sympathizers, HP Pavilion dv6-3113sa Battery who saw the younger heir as the lesser evil and hoped to manipulate him, or to bear with him during their efforts to get rid of Antonius.[36] In September, the Optimate orator Marcus Tullius Cicero began to attack Antony in a series of speeches portraying Antony as the greatest threat to the order of the Senate. HP Pavilion dv6-3114sa Battery [37][38] With opinion in Rome turning against him and his year of consular power nearing its end, Antony attempted to pass laws which would lend him control over Cisalpine Gaul, which had been assigned as part of his province, from Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, one of Caesar's assassins.[39][40] Octavian meanwhile built up a private army in Italy by recruiting Caesarian veterans, HP Pavilion dv6-3115sa Battery and on 28 November won over two of Antony's legions with the enticing offer of monetary gain.[41][42][43] In the face of Octavian's large and capable force, Antony saw the danger of staying in Rome, and to the relief of the Senate he fled to Cisalpine Gaul, which was to be handed to him on 1 January.[43] First conflict with AntonyHP Pavilion dv6-3115tx Battery After Decimus Brutus refused to give up Cisalpine Gaul, Antony besieged him at Mutina.[44] The resolutions passed by the Senate to stop the violence were rejected by Antony, as the Senate had no army of its own to challenge him; this provided an opportunity for Octavian, who was already known to have armed forces. HP Pavilion dv6-3116sa Battery [42] Cicero also defended Octavian against Antony's taunts about Octavian's lack of noble lineage; he stated "we have no more brilliant example of traditional piety among our youth."[45] This was in part a rebuttal to Antony's opinion of Octavian, as Cicero quoted Antony saying to Octavian, HP Pavilion dv6-3116tx Battery"You, boy, owe everything to your name."[46][47] In this unlikely alliance orchestrated by the arch anti-Caesarian senator Cicero, the Senate inducted Octavian as senator on 1 January 43 BC, yet he was also given the power to vote alongside the former consuls.[42][43] In addition, Octavian was granted imperium (commanding power), HP Pavilion dv6-3117sa Batterywhich made his command of troops legal, sending him to relieve the siege along with Hirtius and Pansa (the consuls for 43 BC).[42][48] In April 43 BC, Antony's forces were defeated at the battles of Forum Gallorum and Mutina, forcing Antony to retreat to Transalpine Gaul. HP Pavilion dv6-3118sa BatteryHowever, both consuls were killed, leaving Octavian in sole command of their armies.[49][50] After heaping many more rewards on Decimus Brutus than Octavian for defeating Antony, the Senate attempted to give command of the consular legions to Decimus Brutus, yet Octavian decided not to cooperate. HP Pavilion dv6-3119sa Battery [51] Instead, Octavian stayed in the Po Valley and refused to aid any further offensive against Antony.[52] In July, an embassy of centurions sent by Octavian entered Rome and demanded that he receive the consulship left vacant by Hirtius and Pansa.[53] Octavian also demanded that the decree declaring Antony a public enemy should be rescinded. HP Pavilion dv6-3120sa Battery [52] When this was refused, he marched on the city with eight legions.[52] He encountered no military opposition in Rome, and on 19 August 43 BC was elected consul with his relative Quintus Pedius as co-consul.[54][55] Meanwhile, Antony formed an alliance with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, another leading Caesarian.[56] HP Pavilion dv6-3121sa Battery Second Triumvirate Proscriptions In a meeting near Bologna in October 43 BC, Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus formed a junta called the Second TriumvirateHP Pavilion dv6-3122sa Battery.[58] This explicit arrogation of special powers lasting five years was then supported by law passed by the plebs, unlike the unofficial First Triumvirate formed by Gnaeus Pompey Magnus, Julius Caesar and Marcus Licinius Crassus.[58][59] The triumvirs then set in motion proscriptions in which allegedly 300 senators and 2,000 equites were branded as outlaws and deprived of their property and, HP Pavilion dv6-3123sa Batteryfor those who failed to escape, their lives.[60] The estimation that 300 senators were proscribed was presented by Appian, although his earlier contemporary Livy asserted that only 130 senators had been proscribed.[61] This decree issued by the triumvirate was motivated in part by a need to raise money to pay their troops' salaries for the upcoming conflict against Caesar's assassins, HP Pavilion dv6-3125sa Battery Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus.[62] Rewards for their arrest gave incentive for Romans to capture those proscribed, while the assets and properties of those arrested were seized by the triumvirs.[60] Contemporary Roman historians provide conflicting reports as to which triumvir was more responsible for the proscriptions and killing. HP Pavilion dv6-3127sa Battery However, the sources agree that enacting the proscriptions was a means by all three factions to eliminate political enemies.[63] Marcus Velleius Paterculus asserted that Octavian tried to avoid proscribing officials whereas Lepidus and Antony were to blame for initiating them.[64] Cassius Dio defended Augustus as trying to spare as many as possible, HP Pavilion dv6-3130sa Batterywhereas Antony and Lepidus, being older and involved in politics longer, had many more enemies to deal with.[64] This claim was rejected by Appian, who maintained that Octavian shared an equal interest with Lepidus and Antony in eradicating his enemies.[65] Suetonius presents the case that Octavian, HP Pavilion dv6-3131sa Battery although reluctant at first to proscribe officials, nonetheless pursued his enemies with more rigor than the other triumvirs.[63] Plutarch describes the proscriptions as a ruthless and cutthroat swapping of friends and family between Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian. For example, Octavian allowed the proscription of his ally Cicero, HP Pavilion dv6-3140sa BatteryAntony the proscription of his maternal uncle Lucius Julius Caesar IV, and Lepidus his brother Paulus.[64] Further information: Liberators' civil war On 1 January 42 BC, the Senate posthumously recognized Julius Caesar as a divinity of the Roman state, Divus Iulius. HP Pavilion dv6-3141ea Battery Octavian was able to further his cause by emphasizing the fact that he was Divi filius, "Son of God".[66] Antony and Octavian then sent 28 legions by sea to face the armies of Brutus and Cassius, who had built their base of power in Greece.[67] After two battles at Philippi in Macedonia in October 42, HP Pavilion dv6-3150sa Batterythe Caesarian army was victorious and Brutus and Cassius committed suicide. Mark Antony would later use the examples of these battles as a means to belittle Octavian, as both battles were decisively won with the use of Antony's forces.[68] In addition to claiming responsibility for both victories, HP Pavilion dv6-3163eo Battery Antony also branded Octavian as a coward for handing over his direct military control to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa instead.[68] After Philippi, a new territorial arrangement was made among the members of the Second Triumvirate. While Antony placed Gaul, the provinces of Hispania, and Italia in the hands of Octavian, HP Pavilion dv6-3180ea Battery Antony traveled east to Egypt where he allied himself with Queen Cleopatra VII, the former lover of Julius Caesar and mother of Caesar's infant son, Caesarion. Lepidus was left with the province of Africa, stymied by Antony who conceded Hispania to Octavian instead.[69] Octavian was left to decide where in Italy to settle the tens of thousands of veterans of the Macedonian campaign whom the triumvirs had promised to dischargeHP Pavilion dv6-3298ea Battery. The tens of thousands who had fought on the republican side with Brutus and Cassius, who could easily ally with a political opponent of Octavian if not appeased, also required land.[69] There was no more government-controlled land to allot as settlements for their soldiers, so Octavian had to choose one of two options: alienating many Roman citizens by confiscating their land, HP Pavilion dv6-3299ea Battery or alienating many Roman soldiers who could mount a considerable opposition against him in the Roman heartland; Octavian chose the former.[70] There were as many as eighteen Roman towns affected by the new settlements, with entire populations driven out or at least given partial evictions.[71] HP Pavilion dv6-3300 Battery Rebellion and marriage alliances Widespread dissatisfaction with Octavian over his soldiers' settlements encouraged many to rally at the side of Lucius Antonius, who was brother of Mark Antony and supported by a majority in the Senate. HP Pavilion dv6-3300sg Battery [71] Meanwhile, Octavian asked for a divorce from Clodia Pulchra, the daughter of Fulvia and her first husband Publius Clodius Pulcher. Claiming that his marriage with Clodia had never been consummated, he returned her to her mother, Mark Antony's wife. HP Pavilion dv6-3350ef Battery Fulvia decided to take action. Together with Lucius Antonius she raised an army in Italy to fight for Antony's rights against Octavian. However, Lucius and Fulvia took a political and martial gamble in opposing Octavian, since the Roman army still depended on the triumvirs for their salaries. HP Pavilion dv6-3350sf Battery [71] Lucius and his allies ended up in a defensive siege at Perusia (modern Perugia), where Octavian forced them into surrender in early 40 BC.[71] Lucius and his army were spared due to his kinship with Antony, the strongman of the East, HP Pavilion dv6-3351ef Battery while Fulvia was exiled to Sicyon.[72] However, Octavian showed no mercy for the mass of allies loyal to Lucius; on 15 March, the anniversary of Julius Caesar's assassination, he had 300 Roman senators and equestrians executed for allying with Lucius.[73] Perusia was also pillaged and burned as a warning for others. HP Pavilion dv6-3351sf Battery[72] This bloody event sullied Octavian's reputation and was criticized by many, such as the Augustan poet Sextus Propertius.[73] Sextus Pompeius, son of the First Triumvir Pompey and still a renegade general following Julius Caesar's victory over his father, was established in Sicily and Sardinia as part of an agreement reached with the Second Triumvirate in 39 BC. HP Pavilion dv6-3355ef Battery [74] Both Antony and Octavian were vying for an alliance with Pompeius, who was ironically a member of the republican party, not the Caesarian faction.[73] Octavian succeeded in a temporary alliance when in 40 BC he married Scribonia, a daughter of Lucius Scribonius Libo who was a follower of Pompeius as well as his father-in-law. HP Pavilion dv6-3355sf Battery [73] Scribonia conceived Octavian's only natural child, Julia, who was born the same day that he divorced Scribonia to marry Livia Drusilla, little more than a year after his marriage.[73] While in Egypt, Antony had been engaged in an affair with Cleopatra and had fathered three children with her. HP Pavilion dv6-3362ef Battery [75] Aware of his deteriorating relationship with Octavian, Antony left Cleopatra; he sailed to Italy in 40 BC with a large force to oppose Octavian, laying siege to Brundisium. However, this new conflict proved untenable for both Octavian and Antony. Their centurions, who had become important figures politically, HP Pavilion dv6-3362sf Battery refused to fight due to their Caesarian cause, while the legions under their command followed suit.[76][77] Meanwhile in Sicyon, Antony's wife Fulvia died of a sudden illness while Antony was en route to meet her. Fulvia's death and the mutiny of their centurions allowed the two remaining triumvirs to effect a reconciliation.[76][77] HP Pavilion dv6-6000 Battery In the autumn of 40, Octavian and Antony approved the Treaty of Brundisium, by which Lepidus would remain in Africa, Antony in the East, Octavian in the West. The Italian peninsula was left open to all for the recruitment of soldiers, but in reality, this provision was useless for Antony in the EastHP Pavilion dv6-6000eg Battery.[76] To further cement relations of alliance with Mark Antony, Octavian gave his sister, Octavia Minor, in marriage to Antony in late 40 BC.[76] During their marriage, Octavia gave birth to two daughters (known as Antonia Major and Antonia Minor). War with PompeiusHP Pavilion dv6-6001ea Battery Further information: Sicilian revolt Sextus Pompeius threatened Octavian in Italy by denying to the peninsula shipments of grain through the Mediterranean; Pompeius' own son was put in charge as naval commander in the effort to cause widespread famine in Italy. HP Pavilion dv6-6001eg Battery [77] Pompeius' control over the sea prompted him to take on the name Neptuni filius, "son of Neptune".[78] A temporary peace agreement was reached in 39 BC with the treaty of Misenum; the blockade on Italy was lifted once Octavian granted Pompeius Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, and the Peloponnese, and ensured him a future position as consul for 35 BC. HP Pavilion dv6-6001sg Battery [77][78] The territorial agreement amongst the triumvirs and Sextus Pompeius began to crumble once Octavian divorced Scribonia and married Livia on 17 January 38 BC.[79] One of Pompeius' naval commanders betrayed him and handed over Corsica and Sardinia to Octavian. HP Pavilion dv6-6002eg Battery However Octavian needed Antony's additional support to attack Pompeius, so an agreement was reached with the Second Triumvirate's extension for another five-year period beginning in 37 BC.[80][81] In supporting Octavian, Antony expected to gain support for his own campaign against ParthiaHP Pavilion dv6-6002sg Battery, desiring to avenge Rome's defeat at Carrhae in 53 BC.[81] In an agreement reached at Tarentum, Antony provided 120 ships for Octavian to use against Pompeius, while Octavian was to send 20,000 legionaries to Antony for use against Parthia.[82] However, Octavian sent only a tenth the number of those promised, which was viewed by Antony as an intentional provocationHP Pavilion dv6-6003eg Battery.[82] Octavian and Lepidus launched a joint operation against Sextus in Sicily in 36 BC.[83] Despite setbacks for Octavian, the naval fleet of Sextus Pompeius was almost entirely destroyed on 3 September by general Agrippa at the naval battle of Naulochus.[84] Sextus fled with his remaining forces to the east, HP Pavilion dv6-6004sa Batterywhere he was captured and executed in Miletus by one of Antony's generals the following year.[84] Both Lepidus and Octavian gathered the surrendered troops of Pompeius, yet Lepidus felt empowered enough to claim Sicily for himself, ordering Octavian to leave.[84] However, HP Pavilion dv6-6005ea BatteryLepidus' troops deserted him and defected to Octavian since they were weary of fighting and found Octavian's promises of money to be enticing.[84] Lepidus surrendered to Octavian and was permitted to retain the office of pontifex maximus (head of the college of priests), but was ejected from the Triumvirate, his public career at an end, HP Pavilion dv6-6005eg Batteryand was effectively exiled to a villa at Cape Circei in Italy.[84][85] The Roman dominions were now divided between Octavian in the West and Antony in the East. To maintain peace and stability in his portion of the Empire, Octavian ensured Rome's citizens of their rights to property. This time he settled his discharged soldiers outside of Italy while returning 30,000 slaves to former Roman owners that had previously fled to Pompeius to join his army and navy. HP Pavilion dv6-6005sg Battery [86] To ensure his own safety and that of Livia and Octavia once he returned to Rome, Octavian had the Senate grant him, his wife, and his sister tribunal immunity, or sacrosanctitas.[87] War with Antony Meanwhile, HP Pavilion dv6-6006ea BatteryAntony's campaign against Parthia turned disastrous, tarnishing his image as a leader, and the mere 2,000 legionaries sent by Octavian to Antony were hardly enough to replenish his forces.[88] On the other hand, Cleopatra could restore his army to full strength, and since he was already engaged in a romantic affair with her, HP Pavilion dv6-6007sg Battery he decided to send Octavia back to Rome.[89] Octavian used this to spread propaganda implying that Antony was becoming less than Roman because he rejected a legitimate Roman spouse for an "Oriental paramour".[90] In 36 BC, HP Pavilion dv6-6007TX Battery Octavian used a political ploy to make himself look less autocratic and Antony more the villain by proclaiming that the civil wars were coming to an end, and that he would step down as triumvir if only Antony would do the same; Antony refused.[91] After Roman troops captured the Kingdom of Armenia in 34 BC, HP Pavilion dv6-6008eg Battery Antony made his son Alexander Helios the ruler of Armenia; he also awarded the title "Queen of Kings" to Cleopatra, acts which Octavian used to convince the Roman Senate that Antony had ambitions to diminish the preeminence of Rome.[90] When Octavian became consul once again on 1 January 33 BC, HP Pavilion dv6-6008sa Batteryhe opened the following session in the Senate with a vehement attack on Antony's grants of titles and territories to his relatives and to his queen.[92] Defecting consuls and senators rushed over to the side of Antony in disbelief of the propaganda (which turned out to be true), HP Pavilion dv6-6008TX Batteryyet so did able ministers desert Antony for Octavian in the autumn of 32 BC.[93] These defectors, Munatius Plancus and Marcus Titius, gave Octavian the information he needed to confirm with the Senate all the accusations he made against Antony.[94] By storming the sanctuary of the Vestal Virgins, HP Pavilion dv6-6011tu Battery Octavian forced their chief priestess to hand over Antony's secret will, which would have given away Roman-conquered territories as kingdoms for his sons to rule, alongside plans to build a tomb in Alexandria for him and his queen to reside upon their deaths.[95][96] In late 32 BC, HP Pavilion dv6-6012tu Batterythe Senate officially revoked Antony's powers as consul and declared war on Cleopatra's regime in Egypt.[97][98] In early 31 BC, while Antony and Cleopatra were temporarily stationed in Greece, Octavian gained a preliminary victory when the navy under the command of Agrippa successfully ferried troops across the Adriatic SeaHP Pavilion dv6-6013cl Battery.[99] While Agrippa cut off Antony and Cleopatra's main force from their supply routes at sea, Octavian landed on the mainland opposite the island of Corcyra (modern Corfu) and marched south.[99] Trapped on land and sea, deserters of Antony's army fled to Octavian's side daily while Octavian's forces were comfortable enough to make preparationsHP Pavilion dv6-6013tu Battery.[99] In a desperate attempt to break free of the naval blockade, Antony's fleet sailed through the bay of Actium on the western coast of Greece. It was there that Antony's fleet faced the much larger fleet of smaller, more maneuverable ships under commanders Agrippa and Gaius Sosius in the battle of Actium on 2 September 31 BC. HP Pavilion dv6-6022eg Battery [100] Antony and his remaining forces were only spared due to a last-ditch effort by Cleopatra's fleet that had been waiting nearby.[101] Octavian pursued them, and after another defeat in Alexandria on 1 August 30 BC, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide; Antony fell on his own sword and into Cleopatra's arms, HP Pavilion dv6-6023tx Battery while she let a venomous snake bite her.[102] Having exploited his position as Caesar's heir to further his own political career, Octavian was only too well aware of the dangers in allowing another to do so and, reportedly commenting that "two Caesars are one too many", he ordered Caesarion—Julius Caesar's son by Cleopatra—to be killed, HP Pavilion dv6-6024tx Battery whilst sparing Cleopatra's children by Antony, with the exception of Antony's older son.[103][104] Octavian had previously shown little mercy to military combatants and acted in ways that had proven unpopular with the Roman people, HP Pavilion dv6-6025tx Batteryyet he was given credit for pardoning many of his opponents after the Battle of Actium.[105] Octavian becomes Augustus After Actium and the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian was in a position to rule the entire Republic under an unofficial principate, HP Pavilion dv6-6026tx Battery [106] but would have to achieve this through incremental power gains, courting the Senate and the people, while upholding the republican traditions of Rome, to appear that he was not aspiring to dictatorship or monarchy.[107][108] Marching into Rome, Octavian and Marcus Agrippa were elected as dual consuls by the Senate. HP Pavilion dv6-6027tx Battery [109] Years of civil war had left Rome in a state of near lawlessness, but the Republic was not prepared to accept the control of Octavian as a despot. At the same time, Octavian could not simply give up his authority without risking further civil wars amongst the Roman generals, HP Pavilion dv6-6029tx Batteryand even if he desired no position of authority whatsoever, his position demanded that he look to the well-being of the city of Rome and the Roman provinces. Octavian's aims from this point forward were to return Rome to a state of stability, traditional legality and civility by lifting the overt political pressure imposed on the courts of law and ensuring free elections in name at least. HP Pavilion dv6-6042sf Battery [110] First settlement Main articles: Constitution of the Roman Empire and History of the Constitution of the Roman Empire In 27 BC, HP Pavilion dv6-6051sf BatteryOctavian made a show of returning full power to the Roman Senate and relinquishing his control of the Roman provinces and their armies.[109] Under his consulship, however, the Senate had little power in initiating legislation by introducing bills for senatorial debate.[109] Although Octavian was no longer in direct control of the provinces and their armies, HP Pavilion dv6-6051xx Battery he retained the loyalty of active duty soldiers and veterans alike.[109] The careers of many clients and adherents depended on his patronage, as his financial power in the Roman Republic was unrivaled.[109] The historian Werner Eck states: The sum of his power derived first of all from various powers of office delegated to him by the Senate and people, HP Pavilion dv6-6054ef Battery secondly from his immense private fortune, and thirdly from numerous patron-client relationships he established with individuals and groups throughout the Empire. All of them taken together formed the basis of his auctoritas, which he himself emphasized as the foundation of his political actions.[111] HP Pavilion dv6-6054sf Battery To a large extent the public was aware of the vast financial resources Augustus commanded. When he failed to encourage enough senators to finance the building and maintenance of networks of roads in Italy, he undertook direct responsibility for them in 20 BC. HP Pavilion dv6-6063sf Battery [112] This was publicized on the Roman currency issued in 16 BC, after he donated vast amounts of money to the aerarium Saturni, the public treasury.[112] According to H.H. Scullard, however, Augustus's power was based on the exercise of "a predominant military power and [...] the ultimate sanction of his authority was force, HP Pavilion dv6-6087eg Batteryhowever much the fact was disguised."[113] The Senate proposed to Octavian, the victor of Rome's civil wars, that he once again assume command of the provinces. The Senate's proposal was a ratification of Octavian's extra-constitutional power. Through the Senate Octavian was able to continue the appearance of a still-functional constitution. HP Pavilion dv6-6090sf Battery Feigning reluctance, he accepted a ten-year responsibility of overseeing provinces that were considered chaotic.[114][115] The provinces ceded to him, that he might pacify them within the promised ten-year period, comprised much of the conquered Roman world, HP Pavilion dv6-6090us Battery including all of Hispania and Gaul, Syria, Cilicia, Cyprus, and Egypt.[114][116] Moreover, command of these provinces provided Octavian with control over the majority of Rome's legions.[116][117] While Octavian acted as consul in Rome, HP Pavilion dv6-6091nr Battery he dispatched senators to the provinces under his command as his representatives to manage provincial affairs and ensure his orders were carried out.[117] On the other hand, the provinces not under Octavian's control were overseen by governors chosen by the Roman Senate.[117] Octavian became the most powerful political figure in the city of Rome and in most of its provinces, HP Pavilion dv7 Battery but did not have sole monopoly on political and martial power.[118] The Senate still controlled North Africa, an important regional producer of grain, as well as Illyria and Macedonia, two martially strategic regions with several legions.[118] However, HP Pavilion dv7-1000 Batterywith control of only five or six legions distributed amongst three senatorial proconsuls, compared to the twenty legions under the control of Augustus, the Senate's control of these regions did not amount to any political or martial challenge to Octavian.[107][113] The Senate's control over some of the Roman provinces helped maintain a republican façade for the autocratic Principate. HP Pavilion dv7-1000ea Battery [107] Also, Octavian's control of entire provinces for the objective of securing peace and creating stability followed Republican-era precedents, in which such prominent Romans as Pompey had been granted similar military powers in times of crisis and instability.[107] In 27 January BC, HP Pavilion dv7-1000ef Batterythe Senate gave Octavian the new titles of Augustus and Princeps.[119] Augustus, from the Latin word Augere (meaning to increase), can be translated as "the illustrious one".[105] It was a title of religious rather than political authority.[105] According to Roman religious beliefs, HP Pavilion dv7-1000eg Battery the title symbolized a stamp of authority over humanity—and in fact nature—that went beyond any constitutional definition of his status. After the harsh methods employed in consolidating his control, the change in name would also serve to demarcate his benign reign as Augustus from his reign of terror as Octavian. HP Pavilion dv7-1000fr Battery His new title of Augustus was also more favorable than Romulus, the previous one he styled for himself in reference to the story of Romulus and Remus (founders of Rome), which would symbolize a second founding of Rome.[105] However, HP Pavilion dv7-1001ea Battery the title of Romulus was associated too strongly with notions of monarchy and kingship, an image Octavian tried to avoid.[120] Princeps, comes from the Latin phrase primum caput, "the first head", originally meaning the oldest or most distinguished senator whose name would appear first on the senatorial roster; HP Pavilion dv7-1001ef Batteryin the case of Augustus it became an almost regnal title for a leader who was first in charge.[121] Princeps had also been a title under the Republic for those who had served the state well; for example, Pompey had held the title. Augustus also styled himself as Imperator Caesar divi filius, "Commander Caesar son of the deified one".[119] HP Pavilion dv7-1001eg Battery With this title he not only boasted his familial link to deified Julius Caesar, but the use of Imperator signified a permanent link to the Roman tradition of victory.[119] The word Caesar was merely a cognomen for one branch of the Julian family, yet Augustus transformed Caesar into a new family line that began with him. HP Pavilion dv7-1001tx Battery [119] Augustus was granted the right to hang the corona civica, the "civic crown" made from oak, above his door and have laurels drape his doorposts.[118] This crown was usually held above the head of a Roman general during a triumph, with the individual holding the crown charged to continually repeat "memento mori", HP Pavilion dv7-1001xx Batteryor, "Remember, you are mortal", to the triumphant general. Additionally, laurel wreaths were important in several state ceremonies, and crowns of laurel were rewarded to champions of athletic, racing, and dramatic contests. Thus, both the laurel and the oak were integral symbols of Roman religion and statecraft; HP Pavilion dv7-1002ea Battery placing them on Augustus' doorposts was tantamount to declaring his home the capital. However, Augustus renounced flaunting insignia of power such as holding a scepter, wearing a diadem, or wearing the golden crown and purple toga of his predecessor Julius Caesar. HP Pavilion dv7-1002tx Battery [122] If he refused to symbolize his power by donning and bearing these items on his person, the Senate nonetheless awarded him with a golden shield displayed in the meeting hall of the Curia, bearing the inscription virtus, pietas, clementia, iustitia—"valor, piety, clemency, and justice."[4][118] Second settlementHP Pavilion dv7-1002xx Battery By 23 BC, some of the implications of the settlement of 27 BC were becoming apparent. Augustus' holding of an annual consulate made his dominance over the Roman political system too obvious, whilst at the same time halving the opportunities for others to achieve what was still purported to be the head of the Roman state. HP Pavilion dv7-1003ea Battery [123] Further, his desire to have his nephew Marcus Claudius Marcellus follow in his footsteps and eventually assume the Principate in his turn was causing political problems[note 6] and alienating his three biggest supporters – Agrippa, Maecenas and Livia.[124] Feeling pressure from his own core group of adherents, Augustus turned to the Senate in an attempt to bolster his support there, HP Pavilion dv7-1003el Battery especially with the Republicans; after his choice for co-consul in 23 BC, Aulus Terentius Varro Murena died before taking office[125] he appointed the noted Republican Calpurnius Piso, who had fought against Julius Caesar and supported Cassius and Brutus.[126] HP Pavilion dv7-1003eo Battery In the late spring Augustus suffered a severe illness, and on his supposed deathbed made arrangements that would ensure the continuation of the Principate in some form,[127] whilst at the same time put in doubt the senators' suspicions of his anti-republicanism. HP Pavilion dv7-1003tx Battery [128][129] Augustus prepared to hand down his signet ring to his favored general Agrippa.[128][129] However, Augustus handed over to his co-consul Piso all of his official documents, an account of public finances, and authority over listed troops in the provinces while Augustus' supposedly favored nephew Marcellus came away empty-handedHP Pavilion dv7-1003xx Battery.[128][129] This was a surprise to many who believed Augustus would have named an heir to his position as an unofficial emperor.[130] Augustus bestowed only properties and possessions to his designated heirs, HP Pavilion dv7-1004ea Batteryas an obvious system of institutionalized imperial inheritance would have provoked resistance and hostility amongst the republican-minded Romans fearful of monarchy.[108] With regards to the Principate, it was obvious to Augustus that Marcellus was not ready to take on his position;[131] nonetheless, by giving his signet ring to Agrippa, HP Pavilion dv7-1004tx Battery it was Augustus’ intent to signal to the legions that Agrippa was to be his successor, and that no matter what the constitutional rules were, they would continue to obey Agrippa.[132] Soon after his bout of illness subsided, Augustus gave up his permanent consulship.[129] The only other times Augustus would serve as consul would be in the years 5 and 2 BC’, HP Pavilion dv7-1005ef Battery [129][133] both times to introduce his grandsons into public life.[126] Although he had resigned as consul, Augustus retained his consular imperium, leading to a second compromise between him and the Senate known as the Second Settlement.[134] This was a clever ploy by Augustus; by stepping down as one of two consuls, HP Pavilion dv7-1005eg Battery this allowed aspiring senators a better chance to fill that position, while at the same time Augustus could "exercise wider patronage within the senatorial class."[135] Augustus was no longer in an official position to rule the state, yet his dominant position over the Roman provinces remained unchanged as he became a proconsul. HP Pavilion dv7-1005eo Battery [129][136] Earlier as a consul he had the power to intervene, when he deemed necessary, with the affairs of provincial proconsuls appointed by the Senate.[137] As a proconsul Augustus did not want this authority of overriding provincial governors to be stripped from him, so imperium proconsulare maius, or "power over all the proconsuls" was granted to Augustus by the Senate. HP Pavilion dv7-1005es Battery [134] The existence of imperium maius is debated by scholars, and it is also argued that he was only granted imperium aequum, or power equal to that of the governors, but his supreme influence allowed him to control the affairs of the provinces. Augustus was also granted the power of a tribune (tribunicia potestas) for life, HP Pavilion dv7-1005tx Batterythough not the official title of tribune.[134] Legally it was closed to patricians, a status that Augustus had acquired years ago when adopted by Julius Caesar.[135] This allowed him to convene the Senate and people at will and lay business before it, veto the actions of either the Assembly or the Senate, preside over elections, and the right to speak first at any meetingHP Pavilion dv7-1006tx Battery.[133][138] Also included in Augustus' tribunician authority were powers usually reserved for the Roman censor; these included the right to supervise public morals and scrutinize laws to ensure they were in the public interest, as well as the ability to hold a census and determine the membership of the SenateHP Pavilion dv7-1007ef Battery.[139] With the powers of a censor, Augustus appealed to virtues of Roman patriotism by banning all other attire besides the classic toga while entering the Forum.[140] There was no precedent within the Roman system for combining the powers of the tribune and the censor into a single position, HP Pavilion dv7-1007tx Battery nor was Augustus ever elected to the office of censor.[141] Julius Caesar had been granted similar powers, wherein he was charged with supervising the morals of the state, however this position did not extend to the censor's ability to hold a census and determine the Senate's roster. The office of the tribune plebis began to lose its prestige due to Augustus' amassing of tribunal powers, HP Pavilion dv7-1008ef Batteryso he revived its importance by making it a mandatory appointment for any plebeian desiring the praetorship.[142] In addition to tribunician authority, Augustus was granted sole imperium within the city of Rome itself: all armed forces in the city, formerly under the control of the prefects and consuls, HP Pavilion dv7-1008eg Battery were now under the sole authority of Augustus.[143] With maius imperium proconsulare, Augustus was the only individual able to receive a triumph as he was ostensibly the head of every Roman army.[144] In 19 BC, Lucius Cornelius Balbus, governor of Africa and conqueror of the Garamantes, was the first man of provincial origin to receive this award, HP Pavilion dv7-1008tx Batteryas well as the last.[144] For every following Roman victory the credit was given to Augustus, because Rome's armies were commanded by the legatus, who were deputies of the princeps in the provinces. HP Pavilion dv7-1009tx Battery [144] Augustus' eldest son by marriage to Livia, Tiberius, was the only exception to this rule when he received a triumph for victories in Germania in 7 BC.[145] Ensuring that his status of maius imperium proconsulare was renewed in 13 BC, Augustus stayed in Rome during the renewal process and provided veterans with lavish donations to gain their support. HP Pavilion dv7-1010ed Battery [133] Many of the political subtleties of the Second Settlement seem to have evaded the comprehension of the Plebeian class. When Augustus failed to stand for election as consul in 22 BC, fears arose once again that Augustus was being forced from power by the aristocratic Senate. In 22, 21, and 19 BC, the people rioted in response, HP Pavilion dv7-1010ef Batteryand only allowed a single consul to be elected for each of those years, ostensibly to leave the other position open for Augustus.[146] In 22 BC there was a food shortage in Rome which sparked panic, while many urban plebs called for Augustus to take on dictatorial powers to personally oversee the crisis.[133] After a theatrical display of refusal before the Senate, HP Pavilion dv7-1010eg BatteryAugustus finally accepted authority over Rome's grain supply "by virtue of his proconsular imperium", and ended the crisis almost immediately.[133] It was not until AD 8 that a food crisis of this sort prompted Augustus to establish a praefectus annonae, a permanent prefect who was in charge of procuring food supplies for Rome.[147] Nevertheless, HP Pavilion dv7-1010el Battery there were some who were concerned by the expansion of powers granted to Augustus by the Second Settlement, and this came to a head with the apparent conspiracy of Fannius Caepio and Lucius Lucinius Varro Murena.[148] In early 22 BC, charges were brought against Marcus Primus, HP Pavilion dv7-1010eo Batterythe former proconsul (governor) of Macedonia, of waging a war on the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace, whose king was a Roman ally, without prior approval of the Senate.[149] He was defended by Murena, who told the trial that his client had received specific instructions from Augustus, ordering him to attack the client state.[150] Later, Primus testified that the orders came from the recently deceased Marcellus. HP Pavilion dv7-1010ep Battery [151] Under the Constitutional settlement of 27 BC such orders, had they been given, would have been considered a breach of the Senate’s prerogative, as Macedonia was under the Senate’s jurisdiction, not the Princep’s. HP Pavilion dv7-1010es BatterySuch an action would have ripped away the veneer of Republican restoration as promoted by Augustus, and exposed his fraud of merely being the first citizen, a first among equals.[150] Even worse, the involvement of Marcellus provided some measure of proof that Augustus’s policy was to have the youth take his place as Princeps, HP Pavilion dv7-1010et Batteryinstituting a form of monarchy – accusations that had already played out during the crisis of 23 BC.[131] The situation was so serious, that Augustus himself appeared at the trial, even though he had not been called as a witness. HP Pavilion dv7-1010tx Battery Under oath, Augustus declared that he gave no such order.[152] Murena, disbelieving Augustus’s testimony and resentful of his attempt to subvert the trial by using his auctoritas, rudely demanded to know why Augustus had turned up to a trial to which he had not been called; Augustus replied that he came in the public interest. HP Pavilion dv7-1011tx Battery [153] Although Primus was found guilty, some jurors voted to acquit, meaning that not everybody believed Augustus’s testimony.[154] Then, sometime prior to 1 September 22 BC a certain Castricius provided Augustus with information about a conspiracy led by Fannius Caepio against the Princeps. HP Pavilion dv7-1012tx Battery [155] Murena was named among the conspirators. Tried in absentia, with Tiberius acting as prosecutor, the jury found the conspirators guilty, but it was not a unanimous verdict.[156] Sentenced to death for treason, all the accused were executed as soon as they were captured without ever giving testimony in their defence.[157] Augustus ensured that the facade of Republican government continued with an effective cover-up of the events. HP Pavilion dv7-1013tx Battery [158] In 19 BC, the Senate voted to allow Augustus to wear the consul's insignia in public and before the Senate,[143] as well as sit in the symbolic chair between the two consuls and hold the fasces, an emblem of consular authority.[159] Like his tribune authority, HP Pavilion dv7-1014ca Battery the granting of consular powers to him was another instance of holding power of offices he did not actually hold.[159] This seems to have assuaged the populace; regardless of whether or not Augustus was actually a consul, the importance was that he appeared as one before the people. On 6 March 12 BC, after the death of Lepidus, HP Pavilion dv7-1014tx Battery he additionally took up the position of pontifex maximus, the high priest of the collegium of the Pontifices, the most important position in Roman religion.[160][161] On 5 February 2 BC, Augustus was also given the title pater patriae, or "father of the country".[162][163] Later Roman Emperors would generally be limited to the powers and titles originally granted to Augustus, HP Pavilion dv7-1015eg Batterythough often, to display humility, newly appointed Emperors would decline one or more of the honorifics given to Augustus. Just as often, as their reign progressed, Emperors would appropriate all of the titles, regardless of whether they had actually been granted them by the Senate. The civic crown, which later Emperors took to actually wearing, HP Pavilion dv7-1015el Battery consular insignia, and later the purple robes of a Triumphant general (toga picta) became the imperial insignia well into the Byzantine era. War and expansion Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus chose Imperator, HP Pavilion dv7-1015eo Battery "victorious commander" to be his first name, since he wanted to make the notion of victory associated with him emphatically clear.[164] By the year 13, Augustus boasted 21 occasions where his troops proclaimed "imperator" as his title after a successful battle. HP Pavilion dv7-1015tx Battery [164] Almost the entire fourth chapter in his publicly released memoirs of achievements known as the Res Gestae was devoted to his military victories and honors.[164] Augustus also promoted the ideal of a superior Roman civilization with a task of ruling the world (the extent to which the Romans knew it), HP Pavilion dv7-1016nr Battery a sentiment embodied in words that the contemporary poet Virgil attributes to a legendary ancestor of Augustus: tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento—"Roman, remember by your strength to rule the Earth's peoples!"[140] The impulse for expansionism, apparently prominent among all classes at Rome, HP Pavilion dv7-1016tx Batteryis accorded divine sanction by Virgil's Jupiter, who in Book 1 of the Aeneid promises Rome imperium sine fine, "sovereignty without limit".[165] By the end of his reign, the armies of Augustus had conquered northern Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal),[166] the Alpine regions of Raetia and Noricum (modern Switzerland, HP Pavilion dv7-1017eg BatteryBavaria, Austria, Slovenia),[166] Illyricum and Pannonia (modern Albania, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, etc.),[166] and extended the borders of the Africa Province to the east and south.[166] After the reign of the client king Herod the Great (73–4 BC), Judea was added to the province of Syria when Augustus deposed his successor Herod Archelaus. HP Pavilion dv7-1017tx Battery [166] Like Egypt which had been conquered after the defeat of Antony in 30 BC, Syria was governed not by a proconsul or legate of Augustus, but a high prefect of the equestrian class.[166] Again, no military effort was needed in 25 BC when Galatia (modern Turkey) was converted to a Roman province shortly after Amyntas of Galatia was killed by an avenging widow of a slain prince from HomonadaHP Pavilion dv7-1018eg Battery.[166] When the rebellious tribes of Cantabria in modern-day Spain were finally quelled in 19 BC, the territory fell under the provinces of Hispania and Lusitania.[167] This region proved to be a major asset in funding Augustus' future military campaigns, as it was rich in mineral deposits that could be fostered in Roman mining projects, HP Pavilion dv7-1018tx Batteryespecially the very rich gold deposits at Las Medulas for example.[167] Conquering the peoples of the Alps in 16 BC was another important victory for Rome since it provided a large territorial buffer between the Roman citizens of Italy and Rome's enemies in Germania to the north.[168] The poet Horace dedicated an ode to the victory, while the monument Trophy of Augustus near Monaco was built to honor the occasion. HP Pavilion dv7-1019tx Battery [169] The capture of the Alpine region also served the next offensive in 12 BC, when Tiberius began the offensive against the Pannonian tribes of Illyricum and his brother Nero Claudius Drusus against the Germanic tribes of the eastern Rhineland.[170] Both campaigns were successful, as Drusus' forces reached the Elbe River by 9 BC, HP Pavilion dv7-1020ea Battery yet he died shortly after by falling off his horse.[170] It was recorded that the pious Tiberius walked in front of his brother's body all the way back to Rome.[171] To protect Rome's eastern territories from the Parthian Empire, Augustus relied on the client states of the east to act as territorial buffers and areas which could raise their own troops for defense. HP Pavilion dv7-1020eg Battery [172] To ensure security of the Empire's eastern flank, Augustus stationed a Roman army in Syria, while his skilled stepson Tiberius negotiated with the Parthians as Rome's diplomat to the East.[172] Tiberius was responsible for restoring Tigranes V to the throne of the Kingdom of Armenia.[171] HP Pavilion dv7-1020el Battery Yet arguably his greatest diplomatic achievement was negotiating with Phraates IV of Parthia (37–2 BC) in 20 BC for the return of the battle standards lost by Crassus in the Battle of Carrhae, a symbolic victory and great boost of morale for Rome.[171][172][173] HP Pavilion dv7-1020eo BatteryWerner Eck claims that this was a great disappointment for Romans seeking to avenge Crassus' defeat by military means.[174] However, Maria Brosius explains that Augustus used the return of the standards as propaganda symbolizing the submission of Parthia to Rome. HP Pavilion dv7-1020es BatteryThe event was celebrated in art such as the breastplate design on the statue Augustus of Prima Porta and in monuments such as the Temple of Mars Ultor ('Mars the Avenger') built to house the standards.[175] Although Parthia always posed a threat to Rome in the east, HP Pavilion dv7-1020ev Batterythe real battlefront was along the Rhine and Danube rivers.[172] Before the final fight with Antony, Octavian's campaigns against the tribes in Dalmatia was the first step in expanding Roman dominions to the Danube.[176] Victory in battle was not always a permanent success, as newly conquered territories were constantly retaken by Rome's enemies in Germania. HP Pavilion dv7-1020ew Battery [172] A prime example of Roman loss in battle was the Battle of Teutoburg Forest in AD 9, where three entire legions led by Publius Quinctilius Varus were destroyed with few survivors by Arminius, leader of the Cherusci, an apparent Roman ally.[177] Augustus retaliated by dispatching Tiberius and Drusus to the Rhineland to pacify it, HP Pavilion dv7-1020tx Batterywhich had some success although the battle of AD 9 brought the end to Roman expansion into Germany.[178] The Roman general Germanicus took advantage of a Cherusci civil war between Arminius and Segestes; they defeated Arminius, who fled that battle but was killed later in 21 due to treachery.[179] Death and successionHP Pavilion dv7-1020us Battery The illness of Augustus in 23 BC brought the problem of succession to the forefront of political issues and the public. To ensure stability, he needed to designate an heir to his unique position in Roman society and government. This was to be achieved in small, undramatic, HP Pavilion dv7-1021tx Battery and incremental ways that did not stir senatorial fears of monarchy.[180] If someone was to succeed his unofficial position of power, they were going to have to earn it through their own publicly proven merits.[180] Some Augustan historians argue that indications pointed toward his sister's son Marcellus, HP Pavilion dv7-1022tx Battery who had been quickly married to Augustus' daughter Julia the Elder.[181] Other historians dispute this due to Augustus' will read aloud to the Senate while he was seriously ill in 23 BC,[182] instead indicating a preference for Marcus Agrippa, who was Augustus' second in charge and arguably the only one of his associates who could have controlled the legions and held the Empire together.[183] HP Pavilion dv7-1023cl Battery After the death of Marcellus in 23 BC, Augustus married his daughter to Agrippa. This union produced five children, three sons and two daughters: Gaius Caesar, Lucius Caesar, Vipsania Julia, Agrippina the Elder, and Postumus Agrippa, so named because he was born after Marcus Agrippa died. HP Pavilion dv7-1023em Battery Shortly after the Second Settlement, Agrippa was granted a five-year term of administering the eastern half of the Empire with the imperium of a proconsul and the same tribunicia potestas granted to Augustus (although not trumping Augustus' authority), his seat of governance stationed at Samos in the eastern Aegean. HP Pavilion dv7-1023tx Battery [183][184] Although this granting of power would have shown Augustus' favor for Agrippa, it was also a measure to please members of his Caesarian party by allowing one of their members to share a considerable amount of power with him.[184] Augustus' intent to make Gaius and Lucius Caesar his heirs was apparent when he adopted them as his own childrenHP Pavilion dv7-1024el Battery.[185] He took the consulship in 5 and 2 BC so he could personally usher them into their political careers,[186] and they were nominated for the consulships of AD 1 and 4.[187] Augustus also showed favor to his stepsons, Livia's children from her first marriage, HP Pavilion dv7-1024tx Battery Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus (henceforth referred to as Drusus) and Tiberius Claudius (henceforth Tiberius) granting them military commands and public office, though seeming to favor Drusus. After Agrippa died in 12 BC, Tiberius was ordered to divorce his own wife Vipsania and marry Agrippa's widow, Augustus' daughter Julia — as soon as a period of mourning for Agrippa had ended. HP Pavilion dv7-1025eg Battery [188] While Drusus' marriage to Antonia was considered an unbreakable affair, Vipsania was "only" the daughter of the late Agrippa from his first marriage.[188] Tiberius shared in Augustus' tribune powers as of 6 BC, but shortly thereafter went into retirement, reportedly wanting no further role in politics while he exiled himself to Rhodes. HP Pavilion dv7-1025nr Battery [145][189] Although no specific reason is known for his departure, it could have been a combination of reasons, including a failing marriage with Julia,[145][189] as well as a sense of envy and exclusion over Augustus' apparent favouring of his young grandchildren-turned-sons, Gaius and Lucius, who joined the college of priests at an early age, were presented to spectators in a more favorable light, and were introduced to the army in GaulHP Pavilion dv7-1025tx Battery.[190][191] After the early deaths of both Lucius and Gaius in AD 2 and 4 respectively, and the earlier death of his brother Drusus (9 BC), Tiberius was recalled to Rome in June AD 4, where he was adopted by Augustus on the condition that he, in turn, adopt his nephew GermanicusHP Pavilion dv7-1026tx Battery.[192] This continued the tradition of presenting at least two generations of heirs.[188] In that year, Tiberius was also granted the powers of a tribune and proconsul, emissaries from foreign kings had to pay their respects to him, and by 13 was awarded with his second triumph and equal level of imperium with that of Augustus.[193] HP Pavilion dv7-1027ca Battery The only other possible claimant as heir was Postumus Agrippa, who had been exiled by Augustus in AD 7, his banishment made permanent by senatorial decree, and Augustus officially disowned him.[194] He certainly fell out of Augustus' favor as an heir; the historian Erich S. HP Pavilion dv7-1027tx BatteryGruen notes various contemporary sources that state Postumus Agrippa was a "vulgar young man, brutal and brutish, and of depraved character."[194] Postumus Agrippa was murdered at his place of exile either shortly before or after the death of Augustus. On 19 August AD 14, HP Pavilion dv7-1028tx Battery Augustus died while visiting the place of his birth father's death at Nola. Both Tacitus and Cassius Dio wrote that Livia brought about Augustus' death by poisoning fresh figs, though this allegation remains unproven.[195][196] Tiberius, who was present alongside Livia at Augustus' deathbed, was named his heirHP Pavilion dv7-1029eg Battery.[197] Augustus' famous last words were, "Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit"—referring to the play-acting and regal authority that he had put on as emperor. Publicly, though, his last words were, "Behold, I found Rome of clay, and leave her to you of marble." An enormous funerary procession of mourners traveled with Augustus' body from Nola to RomeHP Pavilion dv7-1029tx Battery, and on the day of his burial all public and private businesses closed for the day.[197] Tiberius and his son Drusus delivered the eulogy while standing atop two rostra.[5] Coffin-bound, Augustus' body was cremated on a pyre close to his mausoleum. It was proclaimed that Augustus joined the company of the gods as a member of the Roman pantheon. HP Pavilion dv7-1030eb Battery [5] In 410, during the Sack of Rome, the mausoleum was despoiled by the Goths and his ashes scattered. The historian D.C.A. Shotter states that Augustus' policy of favoring the Julian family line over the Claudian might have afforded Tiberius sufficient cause to show open disdain for Augustus after the latter's death; HP Pavilion dv7-1030ef Battery instead, Tiberius was always quick to rebuke those who criticized Augustus.[198] Shotter suggests that Augustus' deification, coupled with Tiberius' "extremely conservative" attitude towards religion, obliged Tiberius to suppress any open resentment he might have harbored.[199] Also, the historian R. Shaw-Smith points to letters of Augustus to Tiberius which display affection towards Tiberius and high regard for his military merits. HP Pavilion dv7-1030eg Battery [200] Shotter states that Tiberius focused his anger and criticism on Gaius Asinius Gallus (for marrying Vipsania after Augustus forced Tiberius to divorce her) as well as the two young Caesars Gaius and Lucius, instead of Augustus, the real architect of his divorce and imperial demotion.[199] HP Pavilion dv7-1030el Battery Legacy Further information: Augustus in popular culture Augustus' reign laid the foundations of a regime that lasted for nearly fifteen hundred years through the ultimate decline of the Western Roman Empire and until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. HP Pavilion dv7-1030en BatteryBoth his adoptive surname, Caesar, and his title Augustus became the permanent titles of the rulers of Roman Empire for fourteen centuries after his death, in use both at Old Rome and at New Rome. In many languages, Caesar became the word for Emperor, as in the German Kaiser and in the Bulgarian and subsequently Russian Tsar. HP Pavilion dv7-1030eo Battery The cult of Divus Augustus continued until the state religion of the Empire was changed to Christianity in 391 by Theodosius I. Consequently, there are many excellent statues and busts of the first emperor. He had composed an account of his achievements, the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, to be inscribed in bronze in front of his mausoleum. HP Pavilion dv7-1030ep Battery [201] Copies of the text were inscribed throughout the Empire upon his death.[202] The inscriptions in Latin featured translations in Greek beside it, and were inscribed on many public edifices, such as the temple in Ankara dubbed the Monumentum Ancyranum, called the "queen of inscriptions" by historian Theodor MommsenHP Pavilion dv7-1030es Battery.[203] There are a few known written works by Augustus that have survived. This includes his poems Sicily, Epiphanus, and Ajax, an autobiography of 13 books, a philosophical treatise, and his written rebuttal to Brutus' Eulogy of Cato.[204] However, historians are able to analyze existing letters penned by Augustus to others for additional facts or clues about his personal life. HP Pavilion dv7-1030ev Battery [200][205] Many consider Augustus to be Rome's greatest emperor; his policies certainly extended the Empire's life span and initiated the celebrated Pax Romana or Pax Augusta. He was intelligent, decisive, and a shrewd politician, but he was not perhaps as charismatic as Julius Caesar, HP Pavilion dv7-1030ez Batteryand was influenced on occasion by his third wife, Livia (sometimes for the worse). Nevertheless, his legacy proved more enduring. The city of Rome was utterly transformed under Augustus, with Rome's first institutionalized police force, fire fighting force, and the establishment of the municipal prefect as a permanent officeHP Pavilion dv7-1030tx Battery.[206] The police force was divided into cohorts of 500 men each, while the units of firemen ranged from 500 to 1,000 men each, with 7 units assigned to 14 divided city sectors.[206] A praefectus vigilum, or "Prefect of the Watch" was put in charge of the vigiles, Rome's fire brigade and policeHP Pavilion dv7-1031tx Battery.[207] With Rome's civil wars at an end, Augustus was also able to create a standing army for the Roman Empire, fixed at a size of 28 legions of about 170,000 soldiers.[208] This was supported by numerous auxiliary units of 500 soldiers each, often recruited from recently conquered areas.[209] With his finances securing the maintenance of roads throughout Italy, HP Pavilion dv7-1032tx Battery Augustus also installed an official courier system of relay stations overseen by a military officer known as the praefectus vehiculorum.[210] Besides the advent of swifter communication amongst Italian polities, his extensive building of roads throughout Italy also allowed Rome's armies to march swiftly and at an unprecedented pace across the countryHP Pavilion dv7-1033tx Battery.[211] In the year 6 Augustus established the aerarium militare, donating 170 million sesterces to the new military treasury that provided for both active and retired soldiers.[212] One of the most enduring institutions of Augustus was the establishment of the Praetorian Guard in 27 BC, HP Pavilion dv7-1034ca Batteryoriginally a personal bodyguard unit on the battlefield that evolved into an imperial guard as well as an important political force in Rome.[213] They had the power to intimidate the Senate, install new emperors, and depose ones they disliked; the last emperor they served was Maxentius, HP Pavilion dv7-1034tx Battery as it was Constantine I who disbanded them in the early 4th century and destroyed their barracks, the Castra Praetoria.[214] Although the most powerful individual in the Roman Empire, Augustus wished to embody the spirit of Republican virtue and norms. He also wanted to relate to and connect with the concerns of the plebs and lay people. HP Pavilion dv7-1035ef Battery He achieved this through various means of generosity and a cutting back of lavish excess. In the year 29 BC, Augustus paid 400 sesterces each to 250,000 citizens, 1,000 sesterces each to 120,000 veterans in the colonies, and spent 700 million sesterces in purchasing land for his soldiers to settle upon. HP Pavilion dv7-1035em Battery [215] He also restored 82 different temples to display his care for the Roman pantheon of deities.[215] In 28 BC, he melted down 80 silver statues erected in his likeness and in honor of him, an attempt of his to appear frugal and modest.[215] The longevity of Augustus' reign and its legacy to the Roman world should not be overlooked as a key factor in its success. As Tacitus wrote, HP Pavilion dv7-1035eo Batterythe younger generations alive in AD 14 had never known any form of government other than the Principate.[216] Had Augustus died earlier (in 23 BC, for instance), matters might have turned out differently. The attrition of the civil wars on the old Republican oligarchy and the longevity of Augustus, HP Pavilion dv7-1035es Battery therefore, must be seen as major contributing factors in the transformation of the Roman state into a de facto monarchy in these years. Augustus' own experience, his patience, his tact, and his political acumen also played their parts. He directed the future of the Empire down many lasting paths, HP Pavilion dv7-1038ca Battery from the existence of a standing professional army stationed at or near the frontiers, to the dynastic principle so often employed in the imperial succession, to the embellishment of the capital at the emperor's expense. Augustus' ultimate legacy was the peace and prosperity the Empire enjoyed for the next two centuries under the system he initiated. HP Pavilion dv7-1040ec BatteryHis memory was enshrined in the political ethos of the Imperial age as a paradigm of the good emperor. Every Emperor of Rome adopted his name, Caesar Augustus, which gradually lost its character as a name and eventually became a title.[5] The Augustan era poets Virgil and Horace praised Augustus as a defender of Rome, HP Pavilion dv7-1040ef Battery an upholder of moral justice, and an individual who bore the brunt of responsibility in maintaining the empire.[217] However, for his rule of Rome and establishing the principate, Augustus has also been subjected to criticism throughout the ages. The contemporary Roman jurist Marcus Antistius Labeo (d. AD 10/11), HP Pavilion dv7-1040em Batteryfond of the days of pre-Augustan republican liberty in which he had been born, openly criticized the Augustan regime.[218] In the beginning of his Annals, the Roman historian Tacitus (c. 56–c.117) wrote that Augustus had cunningly subverted Republican Rome into a position of slavery.[218] He continued to say that, HP Pavilion dv7-1040en Batterywith Augustus' death and swearing of loyalty to Tiberius, the people of Rome simply traded one slaveholder for another.[218] Tacitus, however, records two contradictory but common views of Augustus: Intelligent people praised or criticized him in varying ways. HP Pavilion dv7-1040eo BatteryOne opinion was as follows. Filial duty and a national emergency, in which there was no place for law-abiding conduct, had driven him to civil war—and this can neither be initiated nor maintained by decent methods. He had made many concessions to Anthony and to Lepidus for the sake of vengeance on his father's murderers. HP Pavilion dv7-1040es BatteryWhen Lepidus grew old and lazy, and Anthony's self-indulgence got the better of him, the only possible cure for the distracted country had been government by one man. However, Augustus had put the state in order not by making himself king or dictator, but by creating the Principate. The Empire's frontiers were on the ocean, or distant rivers. HP Pavilion dv7-1040et BatteryArmies, provinces, fleets, the whole system was interrelated. Roman citizens were protected by the law. Provincials were decently treated. Rome itself had been lavishly beautified. Force had been sparingly used—merely to preserve peace for the majority.[219] According to the second opposing opinion: HP Pavilion dv7-1040ew Battery filial duty and national crisis had been merely pretexts. In actual fact, the motive of Octavian, the future Augustus, was lust for power...There had certainly been peace, but it was a blood-stained peace of disasters and assassinations.[220] In a recent biography on Augustus, HP Pavilion dv7-1045eg BatteryAnthony Everitt asserts that through the centuries, judgments on Augustus' reign have oscillated between these two extremes but stresses that: "Opposites do not have to be mutually exclusive, and we are not obliged to choose one or the other. HP Pavilion dv7-1045tx BatteryThe story of his career shows that Augustus was indeed ruthless, cruel, and ambitious for himself. This was only in part a personal trait, for upper-class Romans were educated to compete with one another and to excel. However, he combined an overriding concern for his personal interests with a deep-seated patriotismHP Pavilion dv7-1048ez Battery, based on a nostalgia of Rome's antique virtues. In his capacity as princeps, selfishness and selflessness coexisted in his mind. While fighting for dominance, he paid little attention to legality or to the normal civilities of political life. He was devious, untrustworthy, and bloodthirsty. But once he had established his authority, HP Pavilion dv7-1050ea Batteryhe governed efficiently and justly, generally allowed freedom of speech, and promoted the rule of law. He was immensely hardworking and tried as hard as any democratic parliamentarian to treat his senatorial colleagues with respect and sensitivity. He suffered from no delusions of grandeur."[221] HP Pavilion dv7-1050eb Battery Tacitus was of the belief that Nerva (r. 96–98) successfully "mingled two formerly alien ideas, principate and liberty."[222] The 3rd century historian Cassius Dio acknowledged Augustus as a benign, moderate ruler, yet like most other historians after the death of Augustus, HP Pavilion dv7-1050ed BatteryDio viewed Augustus as an autocrat.[218] The poet Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (AD 39–65) was of the opinion that Caesar's victory over Pompey and the fall of Cato the Younger (95 BC–46 BC) marked the end of traditional liberty in Rome; historian Chester G. Starr, Jr. writes of his avoidance of criticizing Augustus, "perhaps Augustus was too sacred a figure to accuse directly."[222] HP Pavilion dv7-1050ef Battery The Anglo-Irish writer Jonathan Swift (1667–1745), in his Discourse on the Contests and Dissentions in Athens and Rome, criticized Augustus for installing tyranny over Rome, and likened what he believed Great Britain's virtuous constitutional monarchy to Rome's moral Republic of the 2nd century BC. HP Pavilion dv7-1050eg Battery [223] In his criticism of Augustus, the admiral and historian Thomas Gordon (1658–1741) compared Augustus to the puritanical tyrant Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658).[223] Thomas Gordon and the French political philosopher Montesquieu (1689–1755) both remarked that Augustus was a coward in battle. HP Pavilion dv7-1050eo Battery [224] In his Memoirs of the Court of Augustus, the Scottish scholar Thomas Blackwell (1701–1757) deemed Augustus a Machiavellian ruler, "a bloodthirsty vindicative usurper", "wicked and worthless", "a mean spirit", and a "tyrant".[224] Revenue reformsHP Pavilion dv7-1050er Battery Augustus' public revenue reforms had a great impact on the subsequent success of the Empire. Augustus brought a far greater portion of the Empire's expanded land base under consistent, direct taxation from Rome, instead of exacting varying, intermittent, and somewhat arbitrary tributes from each local province as Augustus' predecessors had done. HP Pavilion dv7-1051xx Battery [225] This reform greatly increased Rome's net revenue from its territorial acquisitions, stabilized its flow, and regularized the financial relationship between Rome and the provinces, rather than provoking fresh resentments with each new arbitrary exaction of tribute.[225] The measures of taxation in the reign of Augustus were determined by population census, HP Pavilion dv7-1052xx Batterywith fixed quotas for each province.[226] Citizens of Rome and Italy paid indirect taxes, while direct taxes were exacted from the provinces.[226] Indirect taxes included a 4% tax on the price of slaves, a 1% tax on goods sold at auction, and a 5% tax on the inheritance of estates valued at over 100,000 sesterces by persons other than the next of kin.[226] HP Pavilion dv7-1053ez Battery An equally important reform was the abolition of private tax farming, which was replaced by salaried civil service tax collectors. Private contractors that raised taxes had been the norm in the Republican era, and some had grown powerful enough to influence the amount of votes for politicians in RomeHP Pavilion dv7-1053xx Battery.[225] The tax farmers had gained great infamy for their depredations, as well as great private wealth, by winning the right to tax local areas.[225] Rome's revenue was the amount of the successful bids, HP Pavilion dv7-1055ea Battery and the tax farmers' profits consisted of any additional amounts they could forcibly wring from the populace with Rome's blessing. Lack of effective supervision, combined with tax farmers' desire to maximize their profits, had produced a system of arbitrary exactions that was often barbarously cruel to taxpayers, HP Pavilion dv7-1060ec Battery widely (and accurately) perceived as unfair, and very harmful to investment and the economy. The use of Egypt's immense land rents to finance the Empire's operations resulted from Augustus' conquest of Egypt and the shift to a Roman form of government. HP Pavilion dv7-1060ef Battery [227] As it was effectively considered Augustus' private property rather than a province of the Empire, it became part of each succeeding emperor's patrimonium.[228] Instead of a legate or proconsul, Augustus installed a prefect from the equestrian class to administer Egypt and maintain its lucrative seaports; this position became the highest political achievement for any equestrian besides becoming Prefect of the Praetorian Guard. HP Pavilion dv7-1060eg Battery [229] The highly productive agricultural land of Egypt yielded enormous revenues that were available to Augustus and his successors to pay for public works and military expeditions,[227] as well as bread and circuses for the population of Rome. Month of AugustHP Pavilion dv7-1060el Battery The month of August (Latin: Augustus) is named after Augustus; until his time it was called Sextilis (named so because it had been the sixth month of the original Roman calendar and the Latin word for six is sex). HP Pavilion dv7-1060em BatteryCommonly repeated lore has it that August has 31 days because Augustus wanted his month to match the length of Julius Caesar's July, but this is an invention of the 13th century scholar Johannes de Sacrobosco. Sextilis in fact had 31 days before it was renamed, and it was not chosen for its length (see Julian calendar). HP Pavilion dv7-1060en Battery According to a senatus consultum quoted by Macrobius, Sextilis was renamed to honor Augustus because several of the most significant events in his rise to power, culminating in the fall of Alexandria, fell in that month.[230] Building projectsHP Pavilion dv7-1060eo Battery Main page: :Category:Augustan building projects Further information: Vitruvius and De architectura On his deathbed, Augustus boasted "I found a Rome of bricks; I leave to you one of marble".HP Pavilion dv7-1060ep Battery Although there is some truth in the literal meaning of this, Cassius Dio asserts that it was a metaphor for the Empire's strength.[231] Marble could be found in buildings of Rome before Augustus, but it was not extensively used as a building material until the reign of Augustus.[232] Although this did not apply to the Subura slums, HP Pavilion dv7-1060ew Batterywhich were still as rickety and fire-prone as ever, he did leave a mark on the monumental topography of the centre and of the Campus Martius, with the Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace) and monumental sundial, whose central gnomon was an obelisk taken from Egypt.[233] The relief sculptures decorating the Ara Pacis visually augmented the written record of Augustus' triumphs in the Res Gestae. HP Pavilion dv7-1060ez Battery [234] Its reliefs depicted the imperial pageants of the praetorians, the Vestals, and the citizenry of Rome.[234] He also built the Temple of Caesar, the Baths of Agrippa, and the Forum of Augustus with its Temple of Mars Ultor. HP Pavilion dv7-1065ef BatteryOther projects were either encouraged by him, such as the Theatre of Balbus, and Agrippa's construction of the Pantheon, or funded by him in the name of others, often relations (e.g. Portico of Octavia, Theatre of Marcellus). Even his Mausoleum of Augustus was built before his death to house members of his family.[235] HP Pavilion dv7-1067ef Battery To celebrate his victory at the Battle of Actium, the Arch of Augustus was built in 29 BC near the entrance of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, and widened in 19 BC to include a triple-arch design.[232] There are also many buildings outside of the city of Rome that bear Augustus' name and legacy, HP Pavilion dv7-1070eb Battery such as the Theatre of Merida in modern Spain, the Maison Carrée built at Nîmes in today's southern France, as well as the Trophy of Augustus at La Turbie, located near Monaco. After the death of Agrippa in 12 BC, a solution had to be found in maintaining Rome's water supply system. HP Pavilion dv7-1070ed BatteryThis came about because it was overseen by Agrippa when he served as aedile, and was even funded by him afterwards when he was a private citizen paying at his own expense.[206] In that year, Augustus arranged a system where the Senate designated three of its members as prime commissioners in charge of the water supply and to ensure that Rome's aqueducts did not fall into disrepair.[206] HP Pavilion dv7-1070ee Battery In the late Augustan era, the commission of five senators called the curatores locorum publicorum iudicandorum (translated as "Supervisors of Public Property") was put in charge of maintaining public buildings and temples of the state cult.[206] Augustus created the senatorial group of the curatores viarum (translated as "Supervisors for Roads") for the upkeep of roads; HP Pavilion dv7-1070ef Batterythis senatorial commission worked with local officials and contractors to organize regular repairs.[210] The Corinthian order of architectural style originating from ancient Greece was the dominant architectural style in the age of Augustus and the imperial phase of Rome. HP Pavilion dv7-1070eg Battery [232] Suetonius once commented that Rome was unworthy of its status as an imperial capital, yet Augustus and Agrippa set out to dismantle this sentiment by transforming the appearance of Rome upon the classical Greek model.[232] Physical appearanceHP Pavilion dv7-1070ei Battery